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/ 

THE 



LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN 

OF 

E. MARLITT, 

AUTHOR OF “THE OLD MAM'sBLLE’S SECRET," ‘‘GOLD ELSIE," 
"COUNTESS GISELA," ETC. 

r 

tjJLi ' C* * 

BY MRS. A. L. WISTER. 


<3 3 2 ** 


,T- 



J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 

1900 


TWO COPIES RECEIVED, 


Library or co»grot% 
Offtua of tbb 

FEB 1 9 1900 

Wegffifer 0 f Copyright* 



5 


4900 


Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
Copyright, 1900, by Annjs Lee Wister. 


SECOND COPY, 

J<w. ^v. 

V ^ o o . 

Printed by J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U. S. A 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS, 


CHAPTER I. 

It is a solitary wanderer, the little stream that traverses 
the quiet moorland. Its murmuring ripples know not 
the exulting rush of waters hurrying down steep valleys, 
they babble contentedly over smooth, unresisting pebbles, 
between marshy banks bordered by willows and alders. 
Above it the thicket of branches is closely intertwined, as 
if to shut out from the brooding heavens the knowledge 
that this slender, trickling vein of existence runs pulsing 
through the much-abused moor. Such a course would bo 
quite in the spirit of many an evil tongue that defames 
these broad levels, frequent in the German lowlands. 

But look upon the despised gipsy-wife — the moor — in 
midsummer. It is true she does not bathe her forehead in 
the clouds, she cannot show you a diadem of Alpine glories, 
or offer you a wreath of rhododendron, — she does not 
even wear the rocky crown of the hill-country, — and no 
broad, glittering strip of plunging foam girds her loins ; 
but the heather blooms profusely, its variegated pink-and- 
purple bells clothe the soft undulations of her giant form 
in a royal mantle embroidered with myriads of yellow- 
powdered bees, a mantle most gorgeously bordered. 

In the far distance, the sandy level that produces only 
the hardy heather rises to a tolerable height; here there is 
strength and nourishment in the soil; the long, dark strips 

( 3 > 


I 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


in wmcn toe puiple plain suddenly ends are woodland,—, 
a lofty, majestic forest. You may walk for hours through 
its solemn aisles, the growth c? the despised moorland. 

In the boughs, high above your head, the finch and 
thrush have their nests, and timorous deer eye you shyly 
from the thicket. And then, when the forest ends in a 
luxuriant undergrowth where the foot hesitates to crush 
the wild berries, which, as if rained down by the skies, 
colour all the slope with scarlet and black, while from the 
hollow beyond the richest green from grassy meadows 
and the paly gold of ripening corn greet your eyes, — 
when the lowing of sleek kine and the hum of human 
voices salute your ears, from the neighbouring village, 
nestling cosily around the tiled church-tower, — then you 
may well think with a smile of the “dreary, desolate, 
sandy moor,” as the books have it. 

It is true that the stream alluded to wanders over one 
of the most sterile and lonely portions of the waste. It 
runs parallel, for a long way, to the strip of forest on 
the horizon, and only after mature consideration decides 
to direct its course thither. With all its gentleness, it 
roots and burrows in the sandy soil, and at one point, 
indeed, it has succeeded in hollowing out a miniature 
basin, where its lazy current is still. Here it is hard to 
tell where the atmosphere ceases and the water begins, 
the white pebbles at the bottom are so distinct and dear, 
and the foxtail upon its surface is so motionles). The 
alders have been parted asunder by the little circle of 
water, and one graceful birch has overtopped them, and 
stands there like a fairy child from among whose curls 
the toying summer breezes continually toss down flakes 
of silver. 

It was towards the end of June. 

In the cool water of the little basin two small brown 


m EE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 5 

teet were standing. Two sunburnt hands were care- 
fully and firmly holding the coarse black woollen petti- 
coats around the knees, while the upper part of the 
body was bent forward curiously. Thin shoulders covered 
with white linen, and a youthful, brown-tinted face, — in- 
deed, what the water reflected was little and diminutive 
enough, — but what matter, the two eyes in the water 
were quite indifferent as to whether they looked from 
among pure Grecian features or from a face of the Tartar 
type. Here, in the loneliest spot in the whole moor, there 
was no scale by which to judge of feminine beauty, nc 
temptation to analyze ; only just now everything that in 
the air and daylight looked so natural and commonplace 
put on such a strange, unaccustomed appearance when 
reflected in the water that it was quite fascinating. 

In the sunshine and the breeze that swept the moor, 
the short curls waved merrily enough about neck and 
brow ; but down there, in the water, they were drooping 
raven wings, from beneath which the little crimson glass 
beads of the necklace dripped like dark-red blood, and the 
coarse linen shift looked flexible and satin-soft, resembling 
a large white flower swimming below there, — everything 
was transformed as in some charming old fairy-tale. 

The blue sky that shone through the parted bushes 
was given back from the water in a hard, steely gray, — a 
dull background for the girlish figure. Suddenly wreaths 
of glowing vapour floated above her in the mirror, — in- 
credible as it was, — they arose unmistakably from the 
curling rings of her hair. They were whirled hither 
and thither, and the glow grew more intense, as if 
gradually the whole world njust be saturated with crim- 
son. But the shade at the roots of the alders deepened 
to a dismal cave, from which single twigs, like black 
stalactites, were thrust up into the curling fire above, — a 

1 * 


6 


THE LX'JTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


new rendering of the old fairy-tale. And it all caused 
a sudden, overwhelming terror. The very shadow of the 
girl, as she bent forward, grew to be a gloomy well whence 
two huge horror-stricken eyes glared up at her. 

The soul of a hero certainly did not inform the owner 
of the little brown feet, — they made one spring for the 
shore, — how ridiculous! All above the moor the evening 
sky shone rosy-red; a cloud dissolving in bright flame 
was hovering over the little pool, — hence the flaming 
nimbus, — and the eyes ? Was ever such a coward as I, 
to run away childishly from my own eyes? 

I was ashamed of myself, — and then that I should 
have been seen by my two best friends who were look- 
ing on ! 

Molly, to be sure, had not allowed herself to be greatly 
disturbed, — the lesser share of intelligence was hers. 
The handsomest brindle cow that ever crossed a moor, 
she was standing quietly beneath the birch-tree, and 
cropping ths rich grass that grew in a narrow strip along 
the bank of the pool. She raised her pretty head, chew- 
ing contentedly the long blades that hung down each side 
of her mouth, and gazed at me for a moment in mute 
wonderment. 

But Spitz, who had been stretched lazily and sleepily 
in the cool shade, took a more tragic view of the affair. 
He started up and barked furiously at the splashing 
water as if the Evil One were at my heels. 

There wis no pacifying him. His voice fairly cracked 
with rage and lust of battle, — it was too comical. I 
sprang laughing back into the water, and seconded him 
ably by stamping the deceitful mirror with both feet into 
a thousand glittering fragments. 

But a third witness was present, of whose approach 
neither Spi^^. nor I had been aware. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


1 


•‘Well, what is my little Princess about there?” bo 
asked, in those muttering, broken tones that always pro- 
ceed from a mouth where the unfailing pipe is sure to be 
between the teeth. 

“ Oh, is it you, Heinz ?” I was not at all ashamed 
that he should have seen my fright, — he would have run 
himself like a hare from anything that was not quite 
canny. No one who saw his stalwart old frame would 
have believed it. 

There he stood, Heinz, the linker,* upon feet so huge 
and massive that their tread seemed to shake the ground. 
His head brushed branches that were far beyond my 
reach, and his burly form so completely shut out all view 
of the moor, that a granite wall seemed suddenly to be 
interposed between the outer world and my small person. 

This giant would show a clean pair of heels at any 
white sheet fluttering in the twilight, and this was my 
delight. I used to tell him wild legends and horrible 
ghost stories until cold shudders ran through me, and I 
was afraid to look towards any dark corner. What bouts 
of fascinating terror we had together 1 

“ I am crushing a pair of eyes, Heinz,” said I, stamp- 
ing again so that the water splashed up on his faded 
linen jacket. “ You see there’s something here not quite 
right ” 

“Eh, save us ! — in bright daylight?” 

“Oh, what does the water- witch care for bright day- 
light when she is angry ?” And to my delight he looked 
half distrustfully, half incredulously at the crimson-tinted 
water. “ What ! you don’t believe me, Heinz ? I wish, 
then, she had looked at you with such an evil look ” 

He was quite convinced. He took his pipe out of his 


* A man whose calling it is to tend bees. 


8 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


mouth, and held the stem towards me with a ridiculous 
mixture of exultation and anxiety. 

“ Now, what did I tell you, — eh ?” he cried. “ 1 never 
will do it again, — never again, I tell you ! For me, the 
things may lie there in heaps. I’ll never touch one, — 
body o’ me, — no I” 

This was a fine result of my teasing. 

The little brook that wandered lonely across the moor 
was richer than many a haughty river that goes rushing 
past palaces and haunts of men. It had pearls in its 
keeping, — not in great numbers, it is true, and not pure 
enough to adorn a royal diadem or even a costly ring. 
But I did not know this. I loved the little smooth, white 
things that rolled about in my hand so prettily. I used 
to wade in the water for hours at a time looking for 
mussel shells, which I carried to Heinz to open. How he 
did that was his secret. And now he refused to render 
me such service ever again, because he was firmly con 
vinced that the water-witch would indict us for thieves 
and villains. 

“ Nonsense, Heinz ! it was only my silly joke,” I said, 
rather meekly. “ Don’t let me make a fool of you.” I 
bent over the water that was almost smooth again. 
“ There, look ! what is there staring up at us ? Nothing, 
nothing at all except my own two horrid eyes. How 
fearfully wide open they are, Heinz 1 Fraulein Streit’s 
were not so bad, nor Use’s either.” 

“No, nor Use’s either,” Heinz assented. “But Ilso 
has sharp eyes, little Princess, — very sharp.” 

He had just threatened me with his huge fist, grinning 
good humouredly the while, — Heinz could not be angry, — . 
but as he made this last indisputable and trenchant 
remark, he pursed his lips, contracted his bushy eye^ 
brows under his hat, qnd rubbed up his bristly hair that 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


9 


fitood out straw-coloured and dry from his temples, — it 
actually seemed to crackle in the hot afternoon sun. 

And then he puffed out a huge cloud of smoke to the 
consternation of a swarm of gnats that rapidly dispersed. 
Use — she of the “ sharp eyes’’ — used to declare “ it was 
enough to stifle one.” I alone liked it, and il I live to 
be a hundred the fragrance of the much-abused weed will 
always transport me in fancy to the warm, dark corner of 
the stove where I used to sit curled up upon the wooden 
bench beside Heinz, snugly sheltered while the wild 
tempest of snow rages on the moor outside, and whole 
batteries of hailstones rattle against the window-panes. 

I jumped upon the bank and stood beside him, while 
Molly approached and plucked at some tufts of knot-grass 
that peeped out from under his big shoes. 

“ Why, what a sight she is I” he laughed. 

“1 beg your pardon, there’s nothing to laugh at,” I 
pouted. 

Molly was gorgeously arrayed. Between her broad 
horns hung a garland of yellow buttercups and birch- 
leaves, — she really wore this decoration as easily and 
majestically as if she had been born with it, — a chain of 
dandelion-stalks hung around her neck, and a bouquet of 
moorland flowers dangled at the end of her tail. It 
flopped about comically enough over her huge flanks 
when she whisked the flies off. 

“ She looks splendid. But you don’t understand,” said 
I. “ Now, hurry and guess, Heinz. Molly is all dressed 
up, and fresh cakes have been baked to-day at the Dierk 
hof. Now, what is it all for ?” 

I had attacked his weak point. Guessing was not 
Heinz’s forte. In such cases he stood puzzled and help- 
less like a child but two years old. It was just what I 
want rt. 


10 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ Sly fellow, you don’t want to congratulate me 1” I 
laughed. “ But I shall not let you off. My dear, good 
Heinz, to-day is my birthday !” 

A shade of emotion and pleasure passed over his 
broad, kindly face. He held out his rough hand to me, 
and I grasped it warmly. 

“ And how old is my Princess ?” he asked, omitting all 
the customary congratulatory phrases. 

I jeered him. “ Have you forgotten again ? Now 
attend. What comes after sixteen ?” 

“Seventeen. What! Seventeen years old ? It can’t 
be, — such a little child ! It cannot be I” And he raised 
his hands protestingly. 

His incredulity irritated me. But in truth my old 
friend, who had increased in stature like a fir of the forest 
until his twentieth year, was not so very far wrong. 
Three years before, my ear had just reached to where I 
could hear Heinz’s strong heart beat, and I had not 
grown a fraction of an inch in all the time since. I was 
a diminutive creature, and so I must remain, and this 
fact deprived me in Heinz’s mind of the right enjoyed by 
normal humanity, of growing older every year. 

I scolded him well, but this time he brought strategy 
to his aid, — he changed the subject. Instead of replying, 
he pointed with his thumb over his shoulder, and said, 
with a grin, “ They’re keeping a fine birthday-holiday over 
there, little Princess, — they’re digging up the old king !” 

With a bound I was outside of the little thicket. 

I had to shade my eyes with both hands, the crimson 
rays of the setting sun blazed so fiercely. Behind the 
dark line of forest — they shot upward through the va- 
porous mist and fleecy clouds — the giants of eld were 
circling the wide moor, and touching the skies with their 
glittering spears. # 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. H 

The heather was not yet in bloom, the brownish- 
green moor lay smooth and level as a table, except where 
arose five grave mounds of the old giant Huns, one large 
and four smaller. The legend ran that they inclosed the 
relics of gigantic forms, — men of an extinct race, beneath 
whose tread the earth had trembled, and whose mighty 
hands had tossed about huge rocks like pebbles. The 
larger mound was crowned with juniper-bushes, and its 
sides clothed with yellow broom. Near its base stood a 
lonely old fir-tree, whether sprung from seed carried 
thither by the birds, or planted by the hand of man, it is 
impossible to say, but tHere it stood, its foliage thin and 
wind-torn, its growth stunted by the burden of snow that 
rested upon it every winter, and yet proudly surveying 
the plain as the only unprotected tree left to battle with 
the blast for existence. 

“ The old king is buried there, for it is the only mound 
where there is a tree, and where there are yellow flowers, 
— there are none on the other hillocks,” I had said, when 
a child, to Heinz as we sat together upon the mound. 
And I knew that the mighty royal head reposed beneath 
where the tree stood, a golden circlet around the brow, 
and a long white beard spreading upon the purple mantle 
that enveloped the giant limbs. Profound solitude brooded 
around the slumbering mystery, but the birds that came 
hither from the forest and perched upon the boughs of 
the fir, the gay butterflies that roved over the heathei 
and broom, and the humming bees, all shared my knowl 
edge of the spot. And I used to lie back among the 
bushes, my hands clasped beneath my head, watching 
with bated breath the ants slipping in and out of 
the'r holes in the ground, — they knew more than all the 
rest of us, and might even have run across the royal 


12 


TUE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS 


mantle. I envied them, and longed for a revelation if 
the hidden wonder. 

Hitherto the large mound had been my garden, my un- 
disputed territory. The Dierkhof, my home, stood isolated 
upon the moor; the path from the forest that connected 
it with the outside world was rarely trodden, and left the 
giant graves far on one side, — never could 1 remember to 
have seen a stranger in their vicinity. And now a group 
of people whom I did not know was collected there ; they 
were tearing up the earth of the mound. I could see 
the pickaxe poised in the air, standing out a fine black 
line against the flaming sky, and as it fell it was as if it 
cut into the living flesh of some one whom I loved. 

Without an instant’s reflection, filled with a strango 
compassion, and yet spurred on by a burning desire to 
see what would be brought to light, I sped wildly across 
the moor. Spitz ran barking by my side, and as I reached 
the spot breathless, I saw Heinz approaching as if in 
seven-league boots. 

Then, for the first time, I was overcome by shyness, — 
assailed by the childish terror that the sight of a strange 
face always inspired. I shrank back and plucked at 
Heinz’s coat-sleeve ; it gave me, at all events, the sense 
of a protecting presence. 


CHAPTER II. 

Three gentlemen were standing by the mound in silent 
expectation, while several labourers were digging and 
shovelling. Hearing the terrific noise made by Spitz, the 
strangers turned towards us for a moment, and one of 
them, apparently the youngest of the three, raised his 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


13 


cane as the dog came near him. Then, after coldly 
scrutinizing Heinz and myself, he turned his back upon 
us again. 

They had begun to dig underneath the fir-tree. Around 
lay scattered the broom that had been torn out by the 
roots, and where it had grown there gaped a large open- 
ing, from the upper part of which there hung down, out of 
the miserable mixture of clay and sandy soil, thick roots, 
the offshoots of the fir, — the white scars showing that 
they had been cruelly hacked by the pickaxe. 

“We have come to the stone,” said one of the gentle- 
men, as one of the men’s picks came down with a clang. 

They shovelled away the earth, and a huge rough 
block of stone appeared. 

The gentlemen stepped to one side while the workmen 
prepared to move the stone. But Heinz approached, 
greatly interested ; he evidently thought that the men 
did not apply themselves with sufficient energy to their 
task. In silent sympathy with their efforts he advanced 
his right leg, and lifted his clinched fists ; his pipe, too, 
played its part. Suddenly the strangers’ heads were 
almost hidden from me in a cloud of blue smoke. This 
produced an effect, — an effect that Ilse ought to have 
been there to see. 

The young gentleman, behind whom my good friend 
stood, immediately turned round as if he had received 
an unexpected blow, measured the unlucky smoker with 
an annihilating glance, and, much disgusted, waved his 
cambric pocket-handkerchief to and fro to dispel the 
smoke. 

Heinz, without a word, took the corpus delicti from his 
mouth and held it loosely by his side, — he was greatly 
ashamed. His tobacco had never before produced such 
an impression. But I was both terrified and mortified 


14 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


by the stranger’s conduct. I was about retracing jl/ 
steps, when the huge stone was stirred from where it had 
lain so long, and, with a dull sound, rolled a few feet away. 

This chained me to the spot. 

At first I could see nothing, for the gentlemen stood 
close about the opening, and then suddenly I dreaded to 
look. I felt the blood shoot up to my temples, and in- 
voluntarily I averted my eyes ; some startling revelation 
was at hand. 

“Dang it! is that all?” cried Heinz, evidently over- 
come by amazement. 

I looked, and for a moment it seemed to me that all 
light and colour vanished from the moor; the brilliant 
butterflies folded their wings and fell to the ground, — and 
where were those glittering spears on the horizon ? The 
sun was setting, — that was all. 'There was no hoary 
monarch lying beneath the mound, his silvery beard 
waving over his purple mantle, — a dark, empty cave 
yawned before me. 

The strangers appeared not at all surprised. One of 
them who wore spectacles, and had a long tin box slung 
upon his back, crept into the opening, and the young man 
followed him, while the third, a tall^ slender man, exam- 
ined the inner side of the stone thatTiad just been rolled 
away. I could not see his face ; his back was towards 
me ; but I thought him old, for his gestures were sedate, 
and the narrow strip of hair that showed below his brown 
hat was certainly gray. 

“ This stone is engraved,” he said, passing his hand 
lightly over its surface. 

“And so are the supports!” cried a voice from the 
mound. “ And what a gigantic cross-stone there is above 
us ! A magnificent block of erratic stone 1” 

The young man appeared again in the opening. He 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


15 


had to stoop, and his hat fell off. Hitherto I had seen 
very few men, — besides Heinz, the old pastor of the 
nearest village, about two miles off, and several hard- 
handed, stolid old farmers residing there, only a ragged 
broom-making boy or two had crossed my path. Con- 
sequently I had had small opportunity to frame an ideal 
of manly beauty. But there was hanging in the Dierk- 
hof a picture of Charles the Great, and this arose before 
me as the uncovered head emerged from the dark cave. 
The forehead shone, broad and white, beneath clustering 
masses of chestnut hair, which were tossed off the brow 
by an energetic shake of the head. 

In his hands he held a large vessel of yellowish-gray 
clay. 

“ Take care, Herr Claudius l” said the spectacled gen- 
tleman who followed him, carrying various curiously 
shaped objects in his left hand. “ These urns are always 
very fragile at first, but a few moments’ exposure to the 
air .” 

Too late. Just as the urn was placed upon the block 
of granite it broke, a little cloud of dust arose, and half- 
charred human bones rolled about hither and thither. 

He of the spectacles made an exclamation of disappoint- 
ment. He carefully picked up one of the fragments with 
the tips of the fingers of his right hand, pushed his 
spectacles up upon his forehead, and examined the broken 
edges of the clay. 

“ Ah, bah, there is no great harm done, Herr Professor !” 
said the young man. “ There are at least six more inside 
there, all exactly alike.” 

The Professor made a wry face. 

“ Oh, oh ! — that sounds very like a — layman!” he said, 
sharply. 

The other laughed aloud, — a most melodious laugh, -* 


16 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


merry and free, and yet perfectly modulated. Then he 
seemed really sorry, and his face grew very grave. 

“ I am only a layman, it is true, but an enthusiast foi 
my hobby,” he said, deprecatingly. “ So, pray, exercise 
mercy instead of justice if a novice now and then loses 
the scientific scent, and gallops somewhat astray. My 
principal desire was to investigate the interior architecture 

of these burial mounds, and Oh, how exquisite 1” 

he interrupted himself, taking up one of the curious 
objects that the Professor had meanwhile deposited upon 
the stone. 

Apparently the learned gentleman did not hear the 
young man’s excuses. Buried in profound, one might 
almost say anxious, revery, he was examining a small 
article, now holding it up against the light, and now close 
to his near-sighted eyes. 

“ Hm, hm, — a kind of silver filigree ! Hm, hm !” he 
muttered to himself. 

“ Silver, in a pre-historic, Germanic burial mound, Herr 
Professor ?” asked the young man, not without a certain 
contemptuous intonation. “ Look at this splendid piece 
of bronze 1” And he took up a dagger or knife. He 
swiftly raised and lowered the weapon as if for a sudden 
stab, and then poised it, smiling, on his finger-tips. “ This 
delicate little thing would never have suited a Germanic 
hand that would have crushed it in a moment as surely 
as that it never could have wrought the delicate si. 
ornament in your hand, Herr Professor. In fact, Doc- 
tor von Sassen is right after all in declaring these so- 
called Hiinengraves to be the burial-places of Phoenician 
generals.” 

Doctor von Sassen ! How the mention of that name 
thrilled through me ! Did not the speaker point at me ? 
And were not the eyes of all instantly directed to my 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


17 


poor little terrified figure? All those eyes ! I wished I 
could creep into the ground 1 Oh, what a silly child I 
was, and always must be 1 They troubled themselves 
not one whit about me. I breathed freely; but, oh, dear 1 
I had forgotten Heinz. There he stood, — wise head, — 
nodding over at me with infinite slyness, as he said, with 
his hand hollowed at one side of his mouth, “ Aha, little 
Princess, they are talking of ” 

“ Hush, Heinz I” I turned angrily upon him for the first 
time in my life, and for the first time, also, I stamped my 
foot. 

He looked at me for a moment utterly dumbfounded, 
and then timidly turned his eyes away. But the labourers 
had heard him ; they apparently discovered that the 
object behind them was not a bush, but a shy little girl 
They stared at me with a kind of smiling curiosity, * 
longed to run away, but something fettered me irresisti- 
bly to the spot. I was then firmly convinced it was 
simply and solely a desire to hear more concerning the 
bearer of the name Sassen. 

It consoled me to find that the strange gentlemen had 
not heard Heinz’s remark. The words, “Phoenician gen- 
erals,” had fallen like two kindling sparks into the Pro- 
fessor’s soul. Evidently an opponent of this hypothesis, 
he defended his own view of the subject in an eager 
speech of some length, to which the young man _ent 
• * r dctful attention. 

The gentleman in the brown hat took no part in the 
learned dispute. He walked sedately to and fro, gazed 
long into the open mound, and finally ascended the hillock 
and looked across the moor. 

Meanwhile the evening glow paled and faded to a deep 
violet on the far horizon; a faint crimson still tinged a 
long, thin strip of cloud that stretched above the dese- 

2 * 


B 


18 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


crated grave like an arm of menace. The false tinsel of 
a transient spectacle vanished, and the solemn heavens 
extended their dark-blue canopy above the earth. The 
pale crescent of the moon, which, like some vaporous 
fleck, had been swallowed up in the glowing sea of colour, 
reappeared, and began to assume a faint golden hue. 

The gentleman on the summit of the hillock took out 
his watch. 

" It is time to go !” he called down. “ It will take a 
full hour to reach the carriage.” 

“Yes, uncle, more’s the pity, — an entire hour!” an- 
swered the young man ; “ I wish we were well out of 
this infernal moor,” he said, peevishly, glancing as he 
spoke down at his elegantly-shod feet, and addressing the 
Professor, who finished his speech abruptly, with a “Well, 
well, we shall see. ” “ Must we really go back over that 
wretched road ?” 

“ I know of no better,” the learned man replied, with 
a shrug. 

The other looked discontentedly around the level plain. 

“All is so still upon the moor, 

The warm noon sun above it beaming,” 

he declaimed, with disdainful pathos. “ I cannot see how 
any one finds inspiration in a moor. It would congeal any 
poetic idea in my brain, — the very words on my lips. 
Are you really sincere in your admiration for this dreary 
solitude, Herr Professor ? I pray you show me some- 
thing in it besides moor ; nothing but moor, — this horrid 
brown phantom ! Is there ever the sound of a bird to 
be heard ? And where has the human life crept to that 
must exist here somewhere ? Is it under-ground ? I 
cannot help it; your brown-cowled moor is an outcast 
child of God.” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


19 


The Professor said never a word. He only put his 
hands on the young man’s shoulders, pushed him a few 
steps in one direction, where the slope of the mound was 
abrupt, and turned him around, where he could look be- 
yond it, towards the south. 

There lay the Dierkhof, — its firm, solid roof, adorned 
with moorland greenery from beneath each row of tiles, 
arose in the midst of four majestic oaks. A dark smoke- 
wreath — a reminder of seething caldrons above a well- 
furnished hearth — rose circling through the boughs, and 
melted away in the soft summer air, high above the black- 
and-white stork that was standing unright in its nest of 
branches, its red beak depending reflectively upon its 
breast. There was still light enough to see the green of 
the well-cultivated meadows, and a faint glimmer of gold 
behind the garden-fence, like a lingering reflection of the 
tinted sunset sky. Those were Use’s favourites, — the 
huge orange-yellow marigolds. And there was Molly, 
walking slowly home of her own accord, her appetite 
satisfied, and very much bored. She paused for a mo- 
ment, stupid and lazy, before the high, arched gate left 
hospitably open, pondering whether she should enter. 
The beautiful animal completed the picture of rural com- 
fort. 

“ Does that look like the abode of weak-minded trog- 
lodytes ?” asked the Professor, with a smile. “And come 
again a month hence, when the heather is in bloom, and 
the moor is in one sheet of shimmering purple. It is fairy 
land then ! Later yet it drips with liquid gold, — with 
honey ; and would you ask more ? The ‘ outcast child 
of God’ adorns herself royally ; many of those dark little 
moorland brooks contain pearls.” 

“ Yes, millions of watery pearls, that flow into the 
sea,” laughed the young man. 


20 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


The Professor shook his head impatiently. I loved th© 
man upon the instant, in spite of his wizened face, his 
long words, and the ugly, rattling tin box upon his back. 
He was defending my moor. He had, in a few brief 
words, revealed all its magic charm. But that youth- 
ful scorner, with his contemptuous smile, and his mock- 
ing words, that cut me to the heart, must be humiliated 
upon the spot. To this day I do not know how I found 
courage to do it, but I suddenly stood by his side and 
silently held out five pearls to him in my open hand. 

I seemed to be standing upon burning coals ; my lips 
trembled with terror and shame, and I never raised my 
eyes. It grew dark around me ; every one drew near ; 
the gentleman who had just descended the hillock, the 
labourers, all approached ; and I saw Heinz’s huge shoes 
by my side. 

“Aha, look here, Herr Claudius, this child can convince 
you ! Brava, my little daughter !” cried the Professor, 
highly delighted. 

The young gentleman said not a word. Perhaps he 
was amazed at the audacity with which the child of the 
moor, in coarse linen and short woollen skirts, placed her- 
self beside him. Slowly, and I thought reluctantly, he 
extended his hand, and then I shrank back, really 
ashamed of myself. Beneath those slender ivory fingers 
my sunburnt hand looked brown as coffee. Involun- 
tarily I drew it back, and the pearls were well-nigh scat- 
tered on the ground. 

“Actually they are not yet pierced,” he said, rolling 
about two of the little balls in the palm of his hand. 

“ There is, to be sure, much to be desired both in form 
and colour,” the Professor said, as if in excuse. “ They are 
irregularly shaped and gray in tint, — little baroque pearls, 
without any special value ; but they aa’e interesting.” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS 


21 


u I should like to keep them,” said the young man It 
sounded like a courteous request. 

“ Take them,” I said, briefly, without looking up. I 
thought every one must hear the beating of my coward 
heart. 

He carefully picked up the rest of the pearls from my 
hand; and then I saw the gentleman in the brown hat 
draw out of his pocket a glittering object, that clinked as 
he held it. 

“ Here, my child,” he said, putting five large, round, 
glittering pieces into my hand. 

I looked up at him, and saw a broad hatbrim shading 
half his face, and a pair of large blue spectacles that 
threw a corpselike hue upon the cheeks beneath them. 

“ What are they ?” I asked, pleased, in spite of my em- 
barrassment, with the sparkle and shape of the curious 
things. 

“ What are they ?” the gentleman repeated, in amaze- 
ment. “ Do you not know what money is, my little girl ? 
Have you never seen a thaler before ?” 

“ No, sir, she knows nothing about it,” Heinz answered 
for me, with an air of parental authority. “ The old Frau 
won’t have any money in the house ; she throws all she 
finds into the brook.” 

“ What ! And who is this singular old Frau ?” the three 
gentlemen asked almost simultaneously. 

“ Why, the little Princess’s grandmother.” 

The young gentleman laughed outright. “ This Prin- 
cess’s ?” he asked, turning towards me. 

I dropped the silver coins upon the ground and fled. 
That silly fool of a Heinz ! Why had I ever told him the 
story of the delicate and refined princess subjected to the 
test of the pea beneath the mattresses ? And why had I 
allowed him since then to call me “ Little Princess,” bo- 


22 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


cause he imagined that nothing could be more delicate 
and refined than the little child that wandered over the 
moor by his side ? 

I ran towards home like a hunted hare, pursued by the 
remembrance of the young man’s jeering laughter. I had 
a dim idea that it would no longer sound in my ears if I 
could only shelter my head once more beneath the roof 
of the Dierkhof. 

Use was standing in the doorway, evidently looking out 
for me, for Molly had returned alone. From a distance 
I fairly devoured her figure with my eyes, as it stood out 
in bold, angular relief against the dark background of the 
large barn. How dearly I loved that head ! — it was almost 
as straw-coloured as the dry locks on Heinz’s temples; 
and where the hair was parted there was always a little 
mist of frizzy curls. Ilse had her brother Heinz’s sharp 
nose, and the same healthy blood painted her cheeks a 
blooming crimson ; but the eyes — those sharp eyes that 
inspired her brother with such wholesome respect — were 
different ; and, as I drew near, their expression did not 
please me. 

“ Are you mad, Lenore ?” she called to me in her 
usual snappish tone, — she was angry then, as angry as 
her extraordinary and conscious self-control would permit 
her to be, for she called me by my name, which she never 
did except when she was provoked. Then she pointed 
silently to the spot where I was standing. I looked 
down, and did indeed see what might well arouse her 
displeasure — my naked feet. 

“ Oh, Ilse 1 I left my stockings and shoes by the 
brook,” I said, meekly. 

“ What folly ! Go get them instantly !” 

She turned and strode back to the fireplace, which, 
although modern in size, still maintained its place, as in 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


23 

all old houses in Lower Saxony, at the very farthest end 
of the threshing- or barn-floor. Use was frying at the 
Are ; there issued thence a most savory odour, and the 
pot of potatoes was bubbling merrily. 

Supper was nearly ready. I should have to hurry to 
be in time. Not for the world, however, would I leave 
the house by the great doorway. I could slip out of a 
side door, and so gain the brook without being observed 
by the group at the mound. 


CHAPTER III. 

I went towards the side door, which opened between 
the threshing-hall and the dwelling-house into the court- 
yard. But Ilse barred the way and lifted a warning 
forefinger. 

“ You can’t go out there, — your grandmother is there,” 
she said, in a whisper. 

The door was open, and through it I saw my grand- 
mother at the well, moving the handle of the pump up and 
down with great rapidity, — not a very bewildering spec- 
tacle ; I beheld it daily. 

My grandmother was a tall, stalwart woman, her face 
always covered with an even crimson from the roots of 
her hair to her massive neck. This strange colouring of 
features already sufficiently striking in outline, combined 
with her sturdy form, her giant stride, and the energetic 
play of her arms, made her savage and terrible of aspect; 
and even now, when I recall her to my mind at such mo- 
ments as she swept by me unexpectedly, and hear again 
the creaking of the boards beneath her tread, and feel the 
stir of her garments as with a sudden blast, I am reminded 


24 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


vividly, in spite of her black eyes and unmistakably 
Oriental profile, of those fierce Cambrian heroines who, 
clad in skins of wild beasts and armed with battle-axes, 
were wont to hurl themselves into the tide of battle. 

She was holding her head beneath the strong stream 
of water that poured over her face and upon the thick 
gray braids that were hanging down in the trough 
of the pump. It was her daily custom, never omitted 
even in the coldest winter ; she seemed to need this re- 
freshment as she did the air she breathed. Her colour 
struck me more forcibly to-day than ever before, — even 
beneath the cold rush of the water it was deep, deep red ; 
and as she stretched out her arms and threw back her 
head, opening her mouth to breathe in the delightful 
sense of relief and refreshment, her lips looked blue in 
contrast with her large, white teeth. 

I glanced at Ilse ; she was looking on unconsciously, 
and her stern black eyes melted to an expression of pro- 
found sorrow and anxiety. 

“ What is the matter with grandmother?” I asked, dis- 
tressed. 

“Nothing, — it is sultry to-day,” she answered, briefly. 
She was greatly annoyed at my detecting her sorrowful 
glance. 

“ Is there no remedy for that terrible rush of blood to 
the head, Ilse ?” 

“ She will take nothing — as you know. Last evening 
she overturned upon the floor the footbath I carried to 
her. Now go, child, and get your shoes and stockings.” 

She turned to the fire, and I dutifully left the house by 
a second side door. I reached the stream, which ran 
scarcely thirty paces in the rear of the Dierkhof, and 
tried to slip along its course through the underbrush that 
lined its banks. It was no easy matter to penetrate the 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS 


25 


thick growth that had sprung up and flourished undis- , 
turbed by human hand. But I was nothing daunted, for 
the lithe willows, although they snapped back at me and 
scraped and hurt my bare feet, entirely screened me from 
observation ; and after I had progressed some distance I 
had reason to bless their friendly shelter, for directly to- 
wards me, across the moor, came the three gentlemen, with 
Heinz at their head. I still hoped to gain in advance of 
them the little pool where I had left my shoes and stock- 
ings ; but it was impossible, they were there before me, 
and I stopped short of my goal and crouched down among 
the bushes. 

I could easily understand why they had come hither. 
Heinz was pointing out to them the strip of turf that bor- 
dered the brook. It was far pleasanter, with its velvet 
sod, for delicate feet than the stiff, stubbly heather. The 
gentlemen passed close beside me ; I heard the grass 
rustle beneath their tread, and they brushed the bushes 
amidst which I was hidden. They stopped beneath the 
birch-tree. 

“Aha, the little moorland Princess has made this her 
dressing-room !” cried the young man. I caught my 
breath, peeped through the bushes, and saw him pick up 
one of my shoes. Now, I knew perfectly well, in spite 
of my seclusion from the world, just how a lady’s shoe 
ought to look. I had read in stories of pearl-embroidered 
slippers and little red shoes, and the very paper upon 
which these charming fairy-tales were printed had seemed 
to me too coarse and thick to serve as soles for such 
ethereal articles of costly satin and velvet. But the clumsy 
thing that the stranger held up, with a laflgh, was of the 
stoutest calf-skin. Oh, Ilse, you would not have thought 
wood sufficiently “ stout and durable” for my restless feet \ 

That morning the shoes had stood by my bedside, brand- 
3 


26 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


new, in company with a pair of stiff stockings which 
Use herself had spun and knitted from the wool of our 
moorland sheep, — her splendid birthday gift for me. I 
was happy, and Use had given a contented nod, for the 
shoemaker, in tender affection for his work, had ranged 
an orderly battalion of shining brass-headed nails upon 
the thick soles of the shoes, and now those admired orna- 
ments sparkled over at me with an evil glitter. 

“ Well, what a child ! She’s left her shoes here ! Per 
fectly new shoes!” cried Heinz, shaking his head. 
“'Well, well, what will Ilse say?” he added, with anx- 
iety. 

“ To whom does the child whom we saw at the mound 
belong ?” asked the old gentleman with the brown hat, in 
his gentle voice. 

“She belongs at the Dierkhof, sir.” 

“Yes, but what is her name?” 

Heinz pushed his hat on one side, and scratched his ear. 
I saw it coming, — his cunning reply. He evidently re- 
membered that horrible moment when I had stamped my 
foot, and, oh ! Heinz knew how to manage. 

“ Well, sir, Ilse calls her “ child,” and I say ” 

“ Little Princess,” the young man concluded in the 
grave manner in which my clever friend had begun. 
And, as he had balanced the dagger found in the mound 
in his hand, so now he balanced the little monster of a 
shoe, except that he moved his arm slowly, as if to call 
attention to its weight. 

“The moorland ladies like to advance with emphasis,” 
he said to the gentleman in the brown hat. “ Charlotte 
ought to see this fairy-like article, uncle ; I have a great 
mind to take it to her.” 

“No nonsense, Dagobert !” his uncle interrupted him, 
sternly. And Heinz exclaimed, loudly, — 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


27 


“Oh, not for the world, sir ! What would Use say ? 
Perfectly new shoes.” 

“ Brr — this Use seems to be the dragon who guards 
your barefooted little Princess, — voild!” laughed the 
young man, dropping the shoe on the ground. Then he 
quietly clapped his hands to remove any particles of dust 
from his gloves. 

They said good-night to Heinz, and went their way, 
whilst my old friend deposited the unfortunate shoes in 
his huge pockets. The stockings, which he discovered 
hanging upon a bush near, followed them, and, with ‘a 
shake of the head, he walked quickly towards the Dierkhof. 

I waited a little while in my hiding-place, listening to 
the retreating footsteps of the strangers until they died 
away on the soft turf. I was greatly excited. I did not 
then know how to analyze the emotion that seemed to 
choke my utterance, and caused me to struggle with re- 
pressed tears, and to which, nevertheless, I resigned my 
self with a kind of passionate eagerness, — it was resent- 
ment, — inveterate resentment. “ Silly fool !” I muttered 
between my teeth at Heinz’s diplomatic reply. “ There 
was no reason why he should not say that I was the 
child of Doctor von Sassen but, no, — he had delivered 
himself like a Solomon, and I was bitterly angry with him 

I left the thicket. The smoke was no longer rising 
from the Dierkhof chimney. The potatoes were cooked. 
Ilse had selected the finest to peel for me ; and the plate 
containing them and a goblet of fresh milk awaited my 
coming. Notwithstanding her stern looks, Ilse spoiled 
me. Yes, my supper was awaiting me, but I could not 
go home yet. I must see in what condition the strangers 
had left the poor, plundered mound 

All was better than I had expected. The block of 
granite had been replaced and the earth roughly smoothed 


28 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


around it; tbe fragments of the urn had vanished; the 
torn bushes were lying about withering on the spot of 
bare sand at the foot of the hill ; some of the ashes from 
tbe urn were sprinkled around, and from beneath a twig 
of broom peeped a small charred bone, forever separated 
from its fellows that had, doubtless, been again consigned 
to the grave. 

I carefully picked it up. The young gentleman was 
right. No giants had been buried in that mound. The 
fragment in my hand might have been a finger-bone once, 
perhaps clothed with rosy flesh, slenderly formed, and 
covered with just such white, smooth skin as I had seen 
upon a hand to-day. It had been beloved and admired 
may be, — encircled by precious metal, — and the weal or 
woe of many a human being might have hung upon one 
of its gestures. I ascended the hillock and buried it be- 
neath the fir. The good old tree stretched its boughs pro- 
tectingly above it. Who could tell that it, too, had not 
received its death-stroke on this day ? 

Embracing its trunk with one arm, I looked across to 
where the little stream turned aside towards the forest. 
How strange it was that human beings should be moving 
there, — human beings upon the solemn, quiet, brown 
level, above which only some bird of prey wheeled in 
dizzy flight to vanish silently ! It seemed to me that 
those wandering there must leave indelible footprints 
behind them. 

They were hastening back into the world, — the world ! 
I had been there, too, once. It is true that to me it 
had consisted of a large, dark, back room and a damp 
garden, surrounded by four high houses. Only a few 
faces came near me from the swarming human life 
that we call “the world.” In that back room I had 
passed the first three years of my life. Scanty curls, 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


29 


blonde and gray, clustered about the face which was 
most distinct in my memory of that time. I could now 
almost paint the pale-green light of those languishing 
eyes, the broad, pug nose, and the colourless complexion. 
That was Fraulein Streit, my governess. Now and then 
another face would hover like a pale reflection upon the 
dim background of my memory. I had seen it rarely, 
— but when, in after-years, I heard the rustle of silk, it 
arose before me like a phantom without any definite out- 
line, and I heard a peevish voice say, “ Child, you make 
me nervous 1” Cross and nervous were to me synonymous 
terms. This rustle of silk that only passed through the 
room, seldom laying a soft, warm hand upon my head, 
was addressed as “madame” by Fraulein Streit, and I 
called it mamma. 

But once I awoke, — not in the dark room. I was in 
the arms of a tall man, with bristly, straw-coloured hair 
upon his temples, who laughed, “Ha! ha! ha! awake at 
last ?” Beside him walked Fraulein Streit in a black 
bonnet and veil, and I could see her quietly wringing her 
bands while large tears rolled down her cheeks. We 
were close to the house with the stork’s nest and the 
four oaks, and when I looked terrified into the man’s 
hot face, and started up ready to scream with fright, he 
cried, “Here, chick! chick!” and a crowd of pretty 
chickens came running out of the big door towards us. 

There stood the woman with the red face. She held 
out her hand to Fraulein Streit, and cried as she kissed 
me, which frightened me terribly. But my terror did not 
last long. A calf was running about the courtyard. He 
jumped clumsily upon all four feet, and stood stock- 
still in a ridiculous attitude, bleating at the man. 
The storks were clattering on the roof, and Ilse — Ilse of 
the black eyes — held out to me a little animal, upon 

3 * 


30 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


whose silky far I timidly laid my hand, — it was a little 
mewing kitten. And the sunshine was everywhere, — - 
golden, glorious sunshine ! — while the leaves on the trees 
rustled and quivered ceaselessly in the fresh moorland 
breeze. I clapped my hands and screamed with delight, 
while Fniulein Streit, sobbing fit to break her heart, tot- 
tered across the threshold. 

Thus I made my first entrance into the Dierkhof in 
Heinz’s arms, and my life began from that time. I had 
become a happy child, while others pitied me What 
merry rides I had over the moor, day after day, upon 
Heinz’s back ! And in the very loneliest spot stood a 
little clay hut thatched with straw, — Heinz had to stoop 
to enter the door. But it was cosy enough inside. Tables 
and chairs were snowy white, and behind two great 
doors in the wall were huge feather-beds covered with 
clean, bright-coloured counterpanes. Heinz and Ilse were 
the children of a broom-maker. The old broom-maker 
had built the hut with his own hands; the two children 
had been born there, and Heinz declared he would 
die there. Every July he carried the beehives from the 
neighbouring farms out upon the moor and tended them, 
and every week he worked for several days as farm 
servant at the Dierkhof. 

I was soon as much at home in the clay hut as in my 
grandmother’s house. I helped Heinz to eat his oatmeal 
porridge, and went with him when he cut litter on the 
moor for the Dierkhof. He lifted me up, high above his 
head, to the old, deserted beehives which hung from a 
beam in the barn and were used as nests by the hens, 
and I, chuckling with pleasure, reached down the smooth 
white eggs to Ilse, who stood by his side. 

In the mean while Fraulein Streit sat in the large dwell* 
ing-room and sewed and cried all day long. The dear 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


31 


old room must have looked ridiculously enough at that 
time, for its walls were only whitewashed; behind the 
stove there was still the old worn brown wooden bench, 
and the tables and chairs were of rough, unplaned boards. 
In Fraulein Streit’s honour my grandmother had sent for a 
stuffed sofa from town, and Use had put up blue-and- 
white check curtains. These curtains Fraulein Streit kept 
drawn almost always, declaring that the moor in its vast- 
ness and tomblike silence frightened her as it basked in 
the hot sunlight; and when the moon shone above it, it 
frightened her no less. When I was four years old she 
began to instruct me, and Use used to bring her work 
and listen. Use had entered my grandmother’s service 
in town when she was fifteen years old, and had then 
learned to read and write a little ; but, nevertheless, 
she began again with me. Many a time in the evening, 
when tired with play, I climbed into her lap and rested 
my head upon her breast. Heinz would join us, of course 
with his unlit pipe in his mouth, and Fraulein Streit 
would rouse herself and begin to talk, a flush would rise 
upon her thin cheeks, and the scanty little light curls 
would flutter and quiver nervously. She would tell of 
the daily life in my old city home, and gradually I began 
to understand. I learned that my father was a distin- 
guished man, and my dead mother had been a learned 
lady and a poetess. Their house had been the resort of 
many celebrated people, and when Fraulein Streit said, 
with a sigh, “It was one of madame’s reception even- 
ings, I was dressed in white with pink ribbons in my 
hair,” all sorts of disagreeable memories were stirred in 
my childish mind. I seemed to hear again the running 
to and fro past my nursery-door. The milk for my supper 
was brought to me cold as ice, and if I chanced to awake, 
I found myself entirely alone in the large, cheerless room. 


32 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS 


I was afraid, and began to scream, which brought 
Fraulein Streit flying to me like a ghost in her white 
dress. She would scold me, put a bonbon in my mouth, 
cover me up close, and slip away again. 

Otherwise the “ divine reminiscences” of my governess 
affected me very little. I generally dropped asleep dur- 
ing their recital, and only waked when my hair was 
pulled unmercifully in the process of being put up in 
papers, to which my long, black locks were subjected 
every evening in like manner with the little gray curls, 
after which I was made to pray for my absent father, 
whose face I could never by any possibility recall to my 
remembrance. 

Thus several years glided by, and Fraulein Streit grew 
more restless and wept more bitterly. She used to stand 
out in the courtyard, and, extending her arms towards 
the sky, would pipe out, in a weak little voice, 

“ Hurrying clouds, as ye glide there in heaven, 

Would that to me to sail with you ’twere given !” 

and when, one day, one of her teeth fell out, — it rattled 
down upon her plate as we sat at table, and I was petrified 
with amazement to fmd it was not her own, but a false 
tooth, — she made haste to wash her hands and pack her 
trunk. 

“ I owe it to myself, my good Use ; there are no pros- 
pects of any kind here,” she said, amid torrents of tears, 
as she bade Use farewell. 

No prospects on the wide, wide moor ! I was horror- 
stricken at such a charge brought against my idolized 
home. Heinz carried her trunk to the nearest village, 
and I went part of the way with them. When they left 
me, I looked after them until Fraulein Streit’s fluttering 
dress disappeared beyond the woods. Then I took off 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


33 


mv hat and flung it high into the air, and stripped off the 
close, uncomfortable jacket, without which Fraulein Streit 
would never let me leave the house. Oh, how delightful 
it was to feel the warm summer wind caress my neck and 
arms 1 Then I went home. Use had already pushed the 
stuffed sofa into the next room, covering it to keep it 
free from dust, and she was just folding the blue-and- 
white check curtains, to put them away also. 

“ Cut them off, Use,” I said, holding out my long, un- 
comfortable curls to her. And she cut them away with a 
snipping of scissors that was music to my ears. The hair 
was thrown into the fire, the jacket was hung up in the 
closet, and thenceforth I wore a skirt andboddice like Use’s. 

All this passed through my mind as I stood beneath the 
fir-tree and followed with my eyes the three figures van- 
ishing in the distance. It was already twilight; I could 
hardly distinguish them from the dark bushes, or see them 
move at all ; but I knew that they were hurrying, just as 
Fraulein Streit had done, to leave the despised moor be- 
hind them. What would the young gentleman have said 
if he could h&ve known that the old red-faced Frau at the 
Dierkhof had once left a populous city for the moor, never 
to return ! Fraulein Streit said my grandmother was 
profoundly melancholy, and she was afraid of her ; but 
to me the old Frau’s strange demeanour had always, 
until the present moment, been an inseparable adjunct of 
her whole appearance, and it grew stranger and stranger 
by imperceptible degrees just as I grew in stature. I 
thought all grandmothers were like her. How was it 
that I began to ponder upon matters that had always 
seemed quite natural and commonplace ? The surprise 
expressed by the strangers at the “ singular old lady who 
would not have any money in the house,” had made me 
thoughtful. And was it not strange also that my grand- 
o 


34 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


mother had grown entirely mute in the lapse of years? 
That she avoided all intercourse with any member of her 
household, and cast a look of fierce reproach upon me if 
I did but cross her path ? That she would never eat a 
morsel from the hand of another ? The eggs, which were 
her chief sustenance, she took with her own hand from 
the nests ; she milked the cow herself, that no other hand 
might touch the milk-pan — no other breath come near her 
morning and evening drink ; and she never ate either 
bread or meat. During the first year that I was with her, 
she occasionally caressed me ; since then she had seemed 
entirely to have forgotten who I was. 

My father did not send me another governess, — my 
grandmother ignored me, and the village schoolmaster, 
who lived far away, was no conjurer. Use said it was 
too bad she could not send me to school, and would 
teach me herself in the evenings. Poor thing, it was 
hard work I She usually read to me some chapter in the 
Bible, — always in an undertone, — and it did not escape me 
that she often broke off abruptly, and glanced with an 
anxious look towards the room where my grandmother 
was. I was confirmed by the old pastor of the district ; 
for I had learned a great deal by heart from Use, and one 
day, leaving Heinz to keep watch at the Dierkhof, we 
actually stole away, and I knelt in the little village 
church and made my confession of faith, without my 
grandmother’s dreaming what we were about. 

Thus I had grown up untrained and merry-hearted, 
like the willows by the stream, and as I stood beneath 
the fir, barefooted, in my short, coarse skirt, with the 
evening breeze toying with my fluttering hair, I laughed, 
— laughed aloud at the young gentleman who picked out 
the softest turf for his delicate feet, and covered his white 
hands with gloves, — that was my revenge. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


35 


CHAPTER IT. 

In the farms of Lower Saxony, the room between 
..he barn and the dwelling-house, where the kitchen-fire 
always is, is called the “Fleet.” At the Dierkhof, this 
,, oom was, after the fashion of ancient times, elevated a 
few inches above the clay-stamped floor of the barn, but 
was not separated from it in any other way, not even by 
a low board partition. Standing at the hearth, one could 
overlook the whole threshing-floor to the large entrance- 
door, and the cattle-sheds beside it. Two windows and 
two doors opened from the dwelling-house upon the Fleet, 
which was neatly paved with little flat stones, and was 
provided, as has been mentioned before, with doors at 
each end leading into the open air. Here, in summer- 
time, the table stood not far from the hearth, and the 
Fleet was to me the cosiest place in the whole house. 

As I entered this room with Use, after my long evening 
expedition, the lamp was already lighted upon the table, 
looking like a mere spark in the spacious, smoky apart- 
ment. Through the open door the gray twilight from 
without fell upon the front cattle-stalls ; they were 
empty, — for at the Dierkhof we only kept what live stock 
was necessary for our own use. But near to the Fleet, 
with her head towards the barn, lay Molly, chewing the 
cud. She held her horns towards me, evidently not con- 
sidering the fluttering garland a desirable adornment for 
the night. 

Use glanced at the “gorgeously-decked” animal, turned 
away her head and gave me a light blow on the shoulder 


36 TILE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 

, — she would not for the world have had me suppose that 
she could smile at my “ silly nonsense.” 

They had eaten supper without me. I could tell where 
Heinz had sat by the immense pile of potato-skins. Use, 
for this once without a word of reproof, took the cold 
potatoes from my plate, and in their place put a couple 
of hot, soft-boiled eggs. I heard Heinz at work in the 
courtyard, and Ilse went bustling about, — she had “ her 
hands full.” The moment was not favourable; neverthe- 
less, I asked the question that had been hovering upon 
my lips : 

“ Ilse, what is the name of the house in which my father 
lives now ?” 

She was just passing me to go into the courtyard. 

“ Do you want to write to him ?” she asked, standing 
still in her surprise. 

I laughed aloud. “ I ? write a letter ? Oh, Ilse, how 
ridiculous that sounds ! No, no, I only want to know 
the name of the people with whom my father lives.” 

“ Must I tell you now ?” 

I did not venture to say “yes,” but, perhaps, Ilse read 
in my face my burning impatience. She went, without a 
word, into the dwelling-room, and brought me a little box. 

“There, look for the address yourself; I cannot re- 
member it. But don’t lose anything, and don’t rummage 
too much.” 

Then she went out. How neat and orderly was the 
arrangement in the little box of the few written sheets 
that connected the Dierkhof with the outer world 1 Here 
was the meagre little packet of my father’s letters. They 
were all addressed to Ilse, and consisted of only a few 
courteous lines, a greeting to my grandmother and my 
self, and a decided negative returned to Use’s repeated 
requests that he would take me from the Dierkhof and send 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


37 


me to school. All written communications that came to 
the Dierkhof passed through Use’s hand, and were re- 
plied to by her, through much tribulation and many a 
groan, in stiff characters, and with laconic brevity. I 
took no heed of them, for I detested writing and the 
sight of a pen as much as I delighted in reading, hun- 
grily devouring repeatedly everything in the way of a 
book that Fraulein Streit had left for me. 

Beneath the packet of my father’s letters lay an enve- 
lope which 1 knew had been received only a short time 
before. It was addressed in a flowing, graceful hand to 
** Frau Rathin von Sasseu. Hanover.” A clumsier hand 
had added the name of the village lying nearest the 
Dierkhof. This was for my grandmother, — the only 
letter that I could remember ever to have reached us thus 
addressed. When Heinz had handed it to Use a few 
weeks before, I had glanced curiously at the address and 
turned away with indifference, — the world beyond the 
moor had possessed not the slightest interest for me. 
To-day all this was different. The broken seal tempted 
me to look at the contents, but I did not dare to open it 
without Use’s permission, so I laid it aside on the corner 
of the table. 

My father’s address was easily found. As I opened 
his last letter I saw it plainly written beneath his auto- 
graph, “ Claudius & Co., No. 64 K .” It was like an 

electric shock. I felt my face blush crimson as I recog- 
nized the name heard repeatedly that afternoon from the 
Professor. How easily I read on the instant my father’3 
cramped and crooked handwriting! The name actually 
sprang into sight. I knew the contents of the letter ; 
Use had told me of them, and yet I began to pore over 
the lines. Ah, there was the same blank indifference 
that characterized all his letters ! He never asked, “ How 

4 


i$S THE LITTLE MOORLAND PR IN CESS. 

is Tuy child ? Is she well ? and does she think of me 
At that moment I felt for the first time, although dimly, 
that my father was terribly unjust to me. 

The unimportant note closed with this sentence, “ The 
letter from Naples is not to be answered. Of course it 
must never meet my mother’s eye.” Evidently the letter 
alluded to was the one lying on the corner of the table. 
It was post-marked Naples, and was now doubly inter- 
esting to me. 

I folded the thin sheets together again, disappointed 
and depressed. Not a word of my father’s place of 
residence, or of his relations to these people called 
Claudius ! I sprang up and threw the note into the 
box. What had I to do with these strange people ? 
I was bothering my brain about men and things that 
were no affair — no possible affair — of mine, and the 
night was falling outside, and Heinz was still bustling 
and making a noise in the courtyard. Usually when he 
worked late on a holiday, I rapped his fingers, hung on 
his arm, and dragged him into the Fleet towards the huge, 
uncushioned wooden chair, — his accustomed seat; then 
I handed him a light for his pipe, and on the instant 
wreaths of smoke would obscure his stolid, smiling face. 
Use brought her sewing, and I read, with undiminished 
enthusiasm, the stories and legends that I already knew 
by heart. If it was cool or raining outside, the fire was 
made up afresh, and Use brewed a cup of tea. How 
cheery it was then in the Fleet, beneath its sheltering 
roof upon which the plashing rain poured ceaselessly ! — 
there was a warm glow upon the hearth, stillness 
reigned in the spacious depths of the dark barn, through 
which the smoke from Heinz’s pipe floated ; now and 
then the chain on Molly’s neck rattled gently ; upon one 
of the lofty beams a fowl would stir in its sleep, or Spitz 


THE LITTLE MOORLAED ERIE CESS. 


30 


would stretch himself with a comfortable sigh before the 
fire. Everything that I loved was contained within those 
four stout walls. 

Then all was quiet within me. I had no wishes, no 
desires. My heart was full of tenderness for the two 
human beings between whom I was sitting. Now strange 
faces suddenly thrust themselves in from without, aud I 
blushed to remember what their influence had made me 
that very day. There was no denying it. Instead or 
clinging to the old friend whom the fine young gentleman 
had regarded so contemptuously, I had, like a coward, 
been ashamed of him,— had grown furiously angry and 
stamped my foot at the man whose patience with me had 
been exhaustless. I had called him silly, because he in 
his simplicity had done his best to reply as he thought 
would please me. And why had I done this? Because 
I had conceived the magnificent idea of boasting of my 
distinguished father, — a father for whom I had no exist- 
ence, while I had grown up in Heinz’s arms ! 

I would apologize — apologize humbly — upon the spot. 
And, as if to help my resolution, the door opened at this 
moment, and Heinz, followed by Spitz, entered the Fleet. 

I flew to him and laid my hands on his broad breast. 
I could only fairly reach so high. 

‘‘Now, Heinz, confess; you are terribly angry with 
me ?” 

“ Body o’ me, I ought to know why, little Princess !” he 
muttered through his teeth, that were holding the eternal 
pipe, and standing stiff and clumsy before me. 

“You must know, Heinz,” I said. “Come, scold me 
well ; I was as bad as bad could be. You would not 
have thought it of me, would you ? — that I could stamp 
mv foot ” 

“ Oh, that was only in joke.” 


40 


THE LTTTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS 


“In joke ? Don’t think it. It was earnest, — good-for- 
nothing earnest. Do not be so kind to me, Heinz. I d*» 
not deserve it. I ought to be punished. I am childish 
and ill-tempered, and a wretched, thankless thing 1” 

“Come, come, and what else beside?” 

“A coward, Heinz! Yes, that was what made me so 
worthless. There I stood at the mound as if dropped 
from the skies, and every one would surely have turned 
and looked at me if you had said ” 

“ But I didn’t say. Aha, not a word !” — he tapped his 
forehead with his forefinger, — “ I can be cunning enough, — 
not a word could they get out of me!” He thrust his 
hand clumsily into his breast-pocket. “ And that great 
load of money that tumbled down upon the ground, — 
they never picked it up again, — not they ! I had to pick 
it up, and here it is, little Princess !” 

He counted out the bright thalers in a long row upon 
his hand. His small eyes sparkled, and regarded them 
with a tender ogle. 

Five pieces of silver, — one for each pearl. That was 
what had been intended. The old gentleman’s, “ Here, 
my child,” had sounded as if it were a matter of course 
that I should want the shining things, and I had meant 
the pearls as a gift. This vexed me now beyond measure. 

“ I don’t want them, Heinz !” I said, crossly, and 
pushed away his hand. 

Again the money fell on the ground. What a terrible 
noise the heavy pieces of metal made as they rang 
upon the stone pavement ! I had never heard that noise 
before, nor had the Dierkhof, for many, many years. 

Involuntarily I started and looked around with a timid 
glance to the windows of the dwelling-rooms. Behind 
the dim panes of one of these windows there hung a 
piece of thick, gay-coloured carpeting, which, in my 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND TRINCESS. 


41 


memory, had never been withdrawn ; now it was dragged 
aside, and my grandmother’s eyes glared out upon us. 

It was a moment to inspire terror into the boldest 
heart. I stooped, trembling, to collect the money; but 
the door next the window was flung open, — a hurricane 
seemed to be upon us. I was seized by the shoulder and 
pushed out into the barn. 

“ Do not touch it !” was yelled into my ears. How 
terribly the long, silent voice vibrated ! I opened wide 
my eyes in alarm. 

There stood the stalwart woman shaking her fist angrily 
at Heinz. “And you ” came menacingly from her lips. 

“Now, now, pray, madame !” he stuttered, in entreat- 
ing tones. “I’ll carry it all out this instant, — all the 
trash, this instant, and throw it into the brook!” He 
shook like an aspen-leaf ; for the first time in my life I 
saw his ruddy colour pale to the very lips. 

She turned her back upon him angrily. Her long, gray 
braids lashed her hips, and my pulse stood still as I 
awaited another onslaught upon myself. Suddenly her 
foot touched one of the pieces of money ; she started as 
if she had stepped upon a snake. And then ensued a 
scene that I can never, never forget. With a giggle, she 
tossed the piece away with her foot, — it flew through the 
air and fell clinking upon the stones; so with a second, 
and a third; she strode after them hither and thither 
through the Fleet. I was reminded of the cat’s cruel 
play with the mouse. And what a ghastly play of feature 
passed over her crimson face ! She spurned the money 
from her with rage and aversion, and yet, as it fell whirl 
ing upon the stones, she listened in unmistakable delight 

her head bent forward, with a kind of eager greed in 

her eyes — to the last echo of the clink it made upon the 
pavement. 


4 * 


*2 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS 


I never stirred, and scarcely dared to breathe ; Spitz, 
usually so bold, crept away from the hearth with his tail 
between his legs, and pressed up close to Heinz, who 
remained motionless, as if nailed to the spot where he 
stood, only now and then glancing terrified towards me. 
Oh, where was Ilse ? She was the only one who had any 
power over my grandmother. Did she not bear the noise, 
—the dreary sound that echoed back from the rafters of 
the old Dierkhof? 

The clatter and clink of the money continued. The old 
Frau seemed to have forgotten that two human beings 
were standing like pillars of stone near her. She ran to 
and fro in a frenzy, gesticulating and whispering, in pur- 
suit of an invisible something. All at once a shudder 
ran through her. As she passed the table she stood 
perfectly still, and remained so for several minutes, 
staring down at the corner of it. There lay the ill-omened 
letter which, by my father’s express command, was never 
to meet her eyes. 

“ Frau Rathin von Sassen !” she at last said, breaking 
the deathly silence, and, sighing profoundly, she passed 
her hand across her brow. “ Frau Rathin von Sassen ! 
That was I — I !” 

I debated with myself whether I should not spring 
forward and wrest from her the letter upon which she 
laid her hand, — but what could such a tiny, frail creature 
as I avail in a contest with that woman ? She would 
have brushed me aside, and maintained possession of the 

mysterious paper. I made eloquent signs to Heinz, he 

looked stupidly at me, and what I dreaded occurred,— 
my grandmother took the letter out of the envelope. 

“ Let us see,” she said, slowly unfolding it. 

She did not read it; her eye caught the signature,— 
what could the name have been to produce such an effect? 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


43 


With a frantic cry of rage the old woman crashed the 
letter in her hand. “ Your Christine 1” she shrieked, 
with a wild laugh, as she hurled the formless thing far 
into the barn, and ran with gestures of horror back into 
her room ; the door sla nmed to, and we heard the bolt 
ehoot clanging home. 

Use, coming in with a basket of peat from the yard, 
stood amazed upon the threshold. 

“Was not that your grandmother ?” she asked, half 
frightened, half incredulous. The door that had just 
been closed was never used. Lock and bolt were both 
rusty from disuse. 

My teeth chattered as in a fever fit ; but the spell was 
broken, and in a breathless whisper I told her what had 
occurred. I saw how she started and turned pale ; but 
Use was always Use, — she said not one word, but placed 
her basket on the hearth and began to take out the sods 
of peat and pile them up symmetrically ; only when Heinz 
approached she raised her head ; his wholesome terror of 
her sharp eyes was but too well founded, — they were 
riveted with an annihilating look upon his frightened face. 

“You’re a fine fellow, Heinz!” said she. “For years I 
have taken care never to let a single groschen appear at 
the Dierkhof, and now, wiseacre that you are, you serve 
me a pretty trick, and throw a handful of silver thalers 
upon the stones. Y as, yes, — forty years on your shoulders, 
and no brains in y)ur skull !” 

The tears came into my eyes In spite of all I had 
said, and my faithfully taking all the blame upon myself, 
Heinz was scolded, and he bore it so patiently, with 
never a word of self -justification. I threw my arms 
around him, and pressed my face against the sleeve of 
his shabby coat. 

“ Oh, yes, console your dear Heinz ! Stick to him like 


44 


TIIE little moorland princess. 


a burr,” said Use ; but all sharpness had vanished from 
look and tone. 

She took the lamp from the table and went into the 
barn to look for the crumpled paper that my grandmother 
had thrown there ; but in vain. Search as she could, it 
was not to be found. 

Until to-day I had seldom heard any sounds cf life 
from my grandmother’s room ; indeed, I had never listened 
for any such, — instinctively I avoided its vicinity. Now 
there issued thence, through the carpet-hung window, 
harsh, passionate mutterings, interrupted by long-drawn, 
sobbing sighs. 

“ She is praying,” Heinz whispered to me. 

But that prayer was not offered kneeling. She was 
walking to and fro with such heavy strides that the car- 
pet behind the glass panes was stirred, and the floor of 
the Fleet trembled beneath our feet. 

“Bring lights!” she suddenly screamed. 

“ Lights ?” Ilse repeated. “ I have already carried 
the lamps in.” She ran towards the narrow passage 
where was the principal door to my grandmother’s apart- 
ment, and which, bounding the long east side of the dwell- 
ing-rooms, opened into the garden. 

She soon reappeared, apparently greatly relieved, and 
immediately afterwards we heard the creaking of the 
pump-handle and the rush of the water into the trough. 

“ All is dark before her eyes,” Ilse replied, in answer 
to my inquiries. “ We shall have another fine night of 
it!” she murmured, with a look of anxiety, as she cleared 
away the dishes from the table and carried the box of 
papers back into the sitting-room. 

Then she often passed distressing nights with my 
grandmother ! It was uncomfortable news for me ; in 
my happy, healthy sleep, I had never suspected that any* 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


4o 


thing unusual went on in the house in the night. Now 
I remembered that Use had often seemed depressed and 
exhausted in the morning, but she had laid the blame 
upon the headaches from which she frequently suffered. 

I folded my arms upon the table and laid my head 
upon them. My heart was filled with a dark presage, as 
if the coming night were to bring misfortune upon its 
wings to the Dierkhof. I listened mechanically to Heinz’s 
steps as he made his rounds through the house ; he pru- 
dently avoided the courtyard, for, although the pump- 
handle was quiet for the moment, my grandmother was 
still there. Where the low hedge of the yard made a 
sharp angle upon the moor she would sometimes stand 
for hours, gazing out into the illimitable distance. 

“ Go to bed, child, you are tired,” said Ilse, passing her 
hand lightly over my head. 

Hitherto, in my easy, happy unconsciousness, I had 
been the idlest and most egotistical of creatures. I felt 
it deeply at this moment. 

“No, I am not going to sleep,” I said, trying to make 
my voice sound decided. “ Ilse, I am seventeen years old 
to-day, and tall and strong enough. I am not going to 
be sent to bed while you have such trouble with mv 
grandmother.” 

I had arisen and was standing at her side. 

“ It needed but this — that you should insist upon being 
in my way !” she rejoined, dryly, looking down at me. 
“ Hm — yes, now I know how a ‘ tall, strong,’ young lady 
looks. Her head reaches just above the supper-table, and 
she cheeps about the world like a newly-hatched chicken.” 

“ Ilse, am I, then, such a poor, miserable creature ?” I 
interrupted her with irritation, but with self-abasement, 
~she never exaggerated. 

“ Besides, I do not know what you mean,” she con- 


16 THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 

tinued, without heeding the interruption. “ Ridiculous 
Your grandmother is standing quietly in the yard, and 
will be as sound asleep as the rest of us in an hour. But 
I can tell you that it always excites her to see the light 
burning too long in the Fleet.” 

Without another word she took the lamp from the 
table, — there was an end to my heroic determination. I 
should have liked to have seen any one dare to resist or 
reply to Use’s words when uttered with that emphatic 
movement of her head. 

I bade good-night to Heinz, who was just closing the 
house-door, and followed her dutifully into the corner- 
room where we both slept. 


CHAPTER Y. 

It was close and warm there. Ilse had closed the 
wooden shutters of the two windows ; and if there had 
been any curtains to them they would certainly have been 
drawn close also. 

“ There, scatterbrain, are your new shoes,” she said, 
pointing beneath the chair by the side of my bed. “ If 
it had not been for Heinz they would have been still 
out on the moor, and probably washed into the stream by 
the storm to-night.” 

I felt my cheeks burn at sight of my two ugly nail-shod 
companions in misery. Just then the light of the lamp 
fell full upon the old smoky engraving of Charles the 
Great. The eyes of the picture were riveted upon me. 
I turned my back to it and stealthily pushed the shoes 
with my foot farther underneath the clair; I never 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 47 

wanted to see them again ; I never wanted to be reminded 
of the stranger whose appearance had heralded a traia 
of unhappy occurrences, and new and painful emotions, 
in my peaceful, solitary life. 

Use did not leave the room until I was in bed. But 
even youth cannot conjure sleep when the heart is throb- 
bing with anxious forebodings. I slipped on my clothes 
again, opened the shutter of the western window that 
looked out upon the courtyard, and seated myself close 
beside it upon the foot of my bed. The black darkness 
of the room grew lighter, and I became quieter, — all 
actual terror of the darkness vanished. 

I noiselessly raised the sash. A dwarf southernwood 
tree that, sheltered by the wall against which it grew, 
was yearly laden, to the delight of the birds, with store 
of crimson berries, extended its boughs across the panes; 
and behind its leafy screen I sat securely hidden, and 
could look beyond garden and meadow into the distance. 
Use had alluded to a coming storm, but the starry canopy 
above the moor could not be more entirely clear from 
clouds than at present. The balmy, delicious night air 
breathed almost imperceptibly past me. Not a leaf was 
stirred, as it whispered out into the absolute silence that 
reigned upon the waste, which, nevertheless, was full of 
life for me. True, it was no longer traversed by the 
ghostly train of giant horsemen, the attendants of the 
hoary monarch of the Huns; that crimson and golden 
dream had been destroyed to-day by the merciless pick- 
axe ; but I knew that life was pulsing in every tiny stalk 
of heather, forming to exquisite perfection millions and 
millions of fairy blossoms, that would shortly burst forth 
and cast a royal purple robe upon the moorland. And 
that very day I had peeped into the magpie’s nest in the 
topmost boughs of the oak and counted four eggs. Life 


48 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


was busy there, too, day and night, — restlessly active 
until each little beak should chip open the shell, and two 
new eyes look out upon the world. I knew, too, that on 
the edge of the forest the deer were roaming with dainty 
tread to snuff the moorland air that, blowing across 
the Dierkhof, carried with it the odours of garden and 
meadow. 

Gradually my nerves were composed. Involuntarily 
my thoughts fell back into their old channels, and I pon- 
dered the quiet interests that had hitherto been all-suffi- 
cient to content my mind. 

All was still in the house, — so still that I could have 
heard the faintest rattle of Molly’s chain. Use had 
spoken truly, and now she might enter the room with 
her light at any moment. Ah, how that thought brought 
me to my feet ! I should certainly have been plunged 
deep in the lofty feather-bed in the course of two mo- 
ments, if the sudden banging of a distant door had not 
shaken every post and beam of the Dierkhof. 

I was just about to close the window when I heard a 
loud breathing just outside, and my grandmother’s mas- 
sive gray head passed swiftly by, in alarming proximity 
to where I was sitting. 

“ It burns, — there ! there 1” she gasped, as she passed, 
clasping her forehead in both hands. 

I did not dare to lean out and look after her ; but 1 
heard her pause, and her outstretched arms came within 
the range of my vision. 

“ For my anger kindled the fire there !” she said aloud, 
with solemn pathos, “ and it will burn down to the nether- 
most hell, and devour the land and its increase, and kindle 
the foundations of the hills 1” 

She slowly passed beneath the oaks to the corner of 
the courtyard. She was not very far from me, and it was 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


49 


light enough for me to see her distinctly. The sky with 
its sparkling stars made a striking background for the 
powerful outline of her figure. She had taken off her 
upper garment ; her wide linen sleeves hung gleaming 
white from her shoulders, and her half-unbraided hair was 
streaming down her back. 

I could not understand what she said out into the silent 
moor. I seemed to hear a jumble of all the old Profes- 
sor's strange words uttered in a peculiar sing-song. 
All at once the murmur ended in a shriek. My grand- 
mother turned, and her restless feet renewed their wan- 
derings with redoubled speed. I thought she was running 
towards the well, but she ran blindly against an oak, 
staggered back, made another attempt to run, and fell to 
the ground headlong, as if thrust down by unseen hands. 

“Use! Use!” I screamed. But Use was already on 
the spot endeavouring, with Heinz’s assistance, to raise 
the fallen woman. They had both been watching my 
grandmother from the courtyard gate. I sprang out of 
the window. 

“She is dead!” Heinz whispered, as I approached. 
And he let the powerful frame, now a dead weight in its 
lifelessness, sink back again. 

“ Be still !” Use ordered, in stifled accents. “ Come, 
use all your strength ; take her up !” And she took my 
grandmother around the body underneath the arms, and, 
with a power that seemed almost superhuman, lifted her 
from the ground, while Heinz supported her feet. 

I never shall forget that heart-rending sight. As they 
staggered with their lifeless burden through the Fleet, the 
long, gray hair swept the stones upon which, scarcely an 
hour before, the pieces of money had been so frantically 
tossed about. 

I ran before and opened the door of my grandmother’s 

i > 




60 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


room, but before they could enter I had to push aside % 
high screen, which completely guarded the interior from 
all prying eyes. I had never been allowed to enter this 
room, even as a little child, and now in the midst of the 
shock and terror of the moment there seemed to be re- 
vealed to my startled eyes a new world of indescribable 
gloom. I can compare the impression only to what I 
have experienced upon entering an ancient church full of 
half-tarnished splendour, hung with pictures of martyrdoms 
and redolent of the strange mixture of cold, confined 
church atmosphere and the stifling fumes of frankincense. 

My grandmother was laid upon a bed that stood in one 
corner. It was hung with green, old-fashioned curtains 
of stiff silk, embroidered with delicate golden flowers 
What a rustling there was as they were drawn aside 1 
and how ghastly was the livid face, with closed eyes, be- 
neath the hard, dark green ! 

Heinz was mistaken. My grandmother was not dead ! 
She lay there breathing heavily, without moving a limb ; 
but when Use, in such tender, imploring tones as I had 
never dreamed to hear from her lips, called her by name, 
she opened her eyes for one moment and looked at her 
intelligently. Ilse pushed pillows and bolsters beneath 
her head, so as to lift her into a sitting posture ; and that 
evidently did her good, — the rattle that had accompanied 
her breathing diminished. 

In the mean while Heinz had left the Dierkhof in search 
of a physician. He had to run to the nearest village, 
whence he could dispatch a carriage to a town more than 
a mile distant; so that three or four hours might elapse 
before medical aid could arrive. 

My endeavours to assist Ilse were repulsed. With an 
anxious glance at the invalid, she silently pushed away 
my hands, but allowed me to remain in the room. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


51 


I crouched down, half hidden by the curtain, upon a 
.ittle cushioned seat at the foot of the bed, and looked 
timidly around the strange apartment. It was the largest 
in the house. My grandmother had probably demolished 
a partition wall to obtain such an amount of space. The 
walls were hung with woollen tapestry, interwoven with 
figures. My gaze dwelt longest upon the life-size form of 
a child with a beautiful face full of grief and gentle sub- 
mission. It was the youthful Isaac bound upon the sacri-« 
fieial pile. The tapestry was very old and moth-eaten, so 
that the muscular figure of Abraham had lost an eye and 
one hand. Chairs with high backs, their cushions covered 
with flowered silk damask, were ranged in stiff ranks 
against the walls like an assemblage of stern old gray~ 
beards. In later years I learned to admire these arm- 
chairs, richly carved as they were, out of the costliest 
woods, and almost black with age. But at first sight the 
strange heads and fabulous creatures that stared at me 
from the winding arabesques, repeated on all the tables and 
cabinets in the room, looked menacing and bewildering. 

The sombre colouring and the deep corners greedily 
absorbed the light of the two lamps standing upon the 
table. The carpet, which covered the entire floor, was 
dark, and the oppressively-low wooden ceiling was almost 
black. The naked flesh of the pictures on the tapestry 
had faded to a corpselike hue, and looked like extra- 
neous points of light; and one single object hovered like 
a dazzling white dove in the gloom, — it was a many- 
branched silver candelabrum, furnished with wax-candles, 
hanging from the middle of the ceiling. 

In the course of the anxious hour that I had already 
passed by the bed, the invalid seemed to have revived. 
She opened her eyes wide, drank some fresh water, and 
suddenly her speech returned. 


52 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ What is the matter with me ?” she asked, slowly, in 
an altered voice. 

Use leaned over her without answering. I think grief 
deprived her of the power of utterance, and gently and 
caressingly she stroked the hair away from her brow. 

“ My good old Use!” she murmured, as she tried to rise 
and could not. With a strange, fixed look of inquiry she 
glanced down at her left arm. 

“ Dead 1” she sighed. And her head sank back on the 
pillow. 

The exclamation excited in me a cold shudder. Invol- 
untarily I started. My seat moved and the curtain 
rustled. 

“ Who else is in the room ?” my grandmother asked, 
listening. 

“ The child, madame, — Lenore,” Use answered, hesi- 
tatingly. 

“ Oh, Willibald’s child, — yes, yes, I know her. She 
runs about the moor with her little naked feet, and sings 
upon the mound yonder. I cannot hear her singing, Use 1” 

I was sure of that. No word of song was ever allowed 
to escape my lips at the Dierkhof, — and, oh ! how I liked 
to sing ! It seemed to me that my soul floated off into 
space upon the tones that came full and free from my 
breast. So I used to sing in Heinz’s hut until the coarse, 
green panes of glass trembled, or upon my beloved 
mound; but I had never dreamed that the sound could 
reach my grandmother’s ears at the Dierkhof. 

I stood up and timidly advanced a step towards her. 

“ Small, like her mother,” she muttered to herself ; 
“the same large eyes, and a cold, contracted heart; the 
water has been sprinkled upon her forehead, too.” 

“No, grandmother,” I said, quietly, “my heart is not 
cold.” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


53 


She looked at me in amazement, as if she had always 
supposed that the little creature could sing, but not speak, 
— least of all, address herself. Use drew back behind 
the curtain, and signed to me to be silent ; she feared that 
my sudden appearance might cause renewed aberration 
of the invalid’s mind. But my grandmother remained 
perfectly quiet, with her eyes riveted upon my face. 
The eyes that had so frightened me, as she glanced 
wildly at me in hurrying by, were very beautiful. Their 
dark splendour was, it is true, partially veiled, but there 
were soul and conscious intelligence in them. 

“ Come here,” she said, after the silence had lasted 
about a minute. 

I went up close to the bedside. 

“ Do you know what it is to love anybody ?” she asked, 
and there was melody in her broken voice. 

“ Yes, grandmother, indeed, I do 1 I love Use dearly, 
— more than I can tell, — and Heinz too 1” 

Her lips quivered slightly, and with great effort she 
held out her right hand to me. 

“Are you afraid of me?” she asked. 

“No.” “ Not now!” I was about to add; but I sup- 

pressed the last two words and leaned over her. 

“ Well, then, give me your hand, and kiss my forehead !” 

I did as she bade me, and, strange to say, at the mo- 
ment when my lips touched the face I had so feared, and 
my hand was gently pressed by the large, cold fingers, a 
no.vel and delicious sensation invaded my breast. All at 
once I became aware that I belonged here. I felt the 
mysterious tie of blood between grandmother and grand- 
child, and, carried away by the sudden emotion, I seated 
myself on the edge of the bed, and gently placed my arm 
beneath her head. 

A happy smile passed over the large, harsh features ; 


54 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


Bhe lay back upon my arm like a tired child who wants 
to sleep. 

“ Flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone, — ah !” she sighed, 
and closed her eyes. 

Use stood behind the bed-curtain ; she buried her face 
in her hands and wept bitterly. 

Again there was silence, broken only by the gasping 
cf the invalid, and her heavy, irregular breathing, and 
by a continual low whirr in the old tall clock in the cot 
ner; its shining face glared at us stonily, and it wheezed 
with every swing of the pendulum. 

A long, long time passed ; it had already struck 
one. Then the house-door opened, and Heinz came 
through the barn ; some one accompanied him ; contrary 
to our expectations, there he was, bringing the physician 
with him. 

Use gave a sigh of relief, and signed to me to give 
place at the bedside ; so I carefully withdrew my stiffened 
arm and let the invalid’s head sink gently upon the pil- 
low. She seemed still to sleep, and gave no sign that 
she heard, when the chamber-door was softly opened and 
the men entered. 

There stood the pastor of the nearest village in full 
clerical costume inside the room, while Heinz, hat in 
hand, remained respectfully in the background. The 
venerable form of the old clergyman looked solemn and 
imposing in his black gown, his prayer-book in his hand. 
But Use started as if at sight of a ghost, — she rushed 
towards him, motioning him away, but it was too late ; as 
if conscious of the gaze of a stranger, my grandmother 
opened her eyes. 

I recoiled, — the change in the expression of her feat 
ores, but now so peaceful, was frightful. 

“ What does the priest want ?” she gasped. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


55 


“ I would bring 1 you consolation if you require it,” the 
old man answered, mildly, without betraying any discom- 
posure at her rough address. 

“Consolation ? I have found it already in the innocent 
heart of a child, in the love which it gives freely without 
asking ‘ What do you believe ? and what will you give 
me for it?’ Lenore, my dear child, where are you.” 

My heart bled at the yearning in her voice, and I ad- 
vanced to the head of the bed where she could see me. 

“ You can bring me no consolation, you who thrust me 
out into the sterile desert where the burning sun scorched 
up my brain J” she continued, turning towards the pas- 
tor. “ You never offered me one drop of balm upon my 
path, which you preach ends in hell 1 Intolerant that you 
are, you boast of walking humbly before God, and yet 
keep the stone to cast at your neighbour ready in your 
hand, and dare to judge him standing at his grave, when 
be is already in the presence of his Creator and Judge ! 
False prophets! You pretend to pray to a God of love 
and compassion, and yet invoke his aid in savage and 
murderous battles, making Him the angry and jealous 
God of the Hebrews, whom you call an accursed people. 
You adore Him as perfect, and yet you ascribe to Him all 
the weaknesses of your corrupt human nature, your 
malice, your lust of power, your cold cruelty; your Re- 
deemer put a palm-branch into your hand, but you convert 
it into a scourge.” 

The pastor raised his hand as if to interrupt her, but 
she continued yet more violently : “ And with blows from 
this scourge you thrust me forth from your heaven when 
you declared ‘Your father, the Jew who gave you life, 
your mother, the Jewess who nourished you, are accursed 
to all eternity!’ Man, — my father was one of the wisest 
of men. He gathered and garnered up immense stores 


56 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


of knowledge and wisdom, and is it all to avail him 
nothing, while narrow bigots, who never thought, but 
only believed, inherit that heaven where truth and under- 
standing are promised to those who seek after them? 
And my father,” she continued, “ gave bread to the hun- 
gry, and his left hand knew not the work of his right 
hand. He hated lying, avarice, and arrogance ; he for- 
gave his enemies, and forswore revenge upon those who 
injured him. He loved the Lord his God with all his 
heart and mind and strength, and is he to languish in 
hell to all eternity because water has not been poured 
upon his head? Then let me be wherever he is, — I 
give you back your baptism ! Keep your heaven, — you 
buy it dearly enough, you tyrants in priestly robes !” 

With the most profound compassion expressed in his 
benevolent face, the old pastor approached, — but a recon- 
ciliation was impossible. 

‘‘Leave me, — I have done!” she said, sharply, and 
turned her face to the wall. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


5T 


CHAPTER YI. 

A 8 gently as he had entered, the pastor left the room, 
and I followed him involuntarily. Although I was con- 
vinced that my grandmother had been grievously wronged, 
I still felt very sorry for the good old man who had laid 
his hand, in the church, in blessing on my head. He was 
gentle and true, and not one of those who had driven the 
unhappy daughter of the Jew out into the night of mad- 
ness. He had come willingly and cheerfully at midnight, 
dear, kind old man, to bring the consolations of the church 
to a sick woman. 

“ Herr Pastor,” Use said to him outside in the Fleet, 
“ do not think hardly of her ; she was baptized by one 
who was as truly kind and good as you are, — and she 
really believed in Christ. But there was another — let him 
answer for it — who used to rave endlessly about damna- 
tion and punishment. Yes ; the misfortunes that fell 
upon the family were but the just judgments of the Lord, 
he said. And he destroyed her mind, — he will have to 
answer for it.” 

“ I do not blame her,” he replied, gently. “ I know but 
too well that false zeal in the vineyard of the Lord de- 
stroys much noble fruit. This woman has suffered greatly. 
God will be merciful ; I am only sorry that I can offer no 
comfort when I would have done so gladly. But I can- 
not press the unsought consolations of the church upon a 
soul that is struggling mortally with the frail body.” He 
passed his hand caressingly over my hair. “ Go back to 
her, she will miss you. I wish I could lay upon your 
lips all the comfort of our faith, that her troubled soul 
might find the true peace.” 


58 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


I returned instantly to the room, while he, refusing 
any refreshment save a glass of water, and without stop- 
ping to rest, left the Dierkhof. 

“ Where is the child ?” I heard the invalid ask as I 
passed along the passage. 

“Here I am, grandmother !” I cried, as I entered, and 
flew to the bedside. She was quite alone. Heinz, whom 
we had left with her, had taken his departure, — I shrewdly 
suspected from fear of Use, since he had brought the 
clergyman to the Dierkhof upon his own responsibility. 

“ Oh, yes, here you are, my little brown dove,” she 
said, tenderly, with a sigh of relief. “ I thought you, too, 
had turned from me, and gone away with him in scorn 
and hatred.” 

J protested against this. “You must not think so, 
grandmother,” I said, earnestly. “ He sent me back to 
you, and he is very, very good, — and I — I do not even 
know what it is to scorn and hate.” 

“ That means, you love all the world,” she said, with 
a faint smile. 

“ Oh, yes, just as I told you ! Ilse and Heinz and 
Spitz and Molly, and the brave old fir over upon the 
mound, and the blue sky ” 

I paused ashamed, — what I was saying was not true ; 
T no longer possessed this true affection for the whole 
world. That very day I had been angry and passionate, 
—should I tell her about it ? 

I was sitting again on the edge of the bed, and she was 
holding my hand in hers, her fingers closed upon mine as 
firmly as if they never were to be unclasped, and her 
eyelids slowly drooped over her eyes. She had spoken 
with so much energy, and I was so utterly inexperienced, 
that I had not thought that she might be exhausted, but 
now I put my left hand caressingly upon her wrist. I 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 

lew well that the stream of life ought to throb there 
in distinct regular beats, — now, to my profound dismay, 
1 felt that it was fearfully quiet beneath my hand: 
only at long, irregular intervals it throbbed against my 
finger-tips. 

“We are as clay in the hands of the potter,” she sud- 
denly whispered. “ What are we, what is our life and 
our glory ? But Thou art our Father, and we are Thy 
children ; pity us like as a Father pitieth his children.” 

She was silent again; and intense anxiety took pos- 
session of me. I would have given worlds to see those 
closed eyes open, and I pressed my lips lightly upon her 
brow. She started, and looked lovingly up at me. 

“ Go, call Use,” she said, faintly 

I sprang up, and at that moment, to my unspeakable 
relief, a vehicle rolled over the stones of the courtyard. 
Immediately afterward Use entered the room with a 
strange gentleman. 

“ The Herr Doctor has come, madame 1” she said. And 
the physician approached the bed. 

Instantly my grandmother’s face assumed a firm, in- 
telligent expression. She held out her hand to the doctor 
that he might feel her pulse, and regarded him attentively. 

“ How much time do you give me ?” she asked, briefly 
and decidedly. 

He paused for a moment, and tried to avoid her eye 
“ We will make an attempt ” he said, with hesitation. 

“No, no, you need not trouble yourself,” she inter- 
rupted him. Then, looking down at her left side with a 
shadowy smile, she said, coldly, “ That has already re- 
turned to the dust ! How much time do you give me 
still?” she repeated with emphasis that would not be 
denied. 

“ Well, then, — an hour at most.” 


60 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


I burst into a flood of tears, and Use retired to a 
window and pressed her face against the panes. My 
grandmother alone was perfectly calm. Her eyes were 
riveted upon the silver candelabrum that hung from the 
ceiling. 

II Light them, Use !” she ordered ; and as Use mounted 
a chair, and flame after flame shot up beneath her hand, 
the sick woman turned to the physician, “ I thank you 
for coming,” she said, “ and would ask a last act of cour- 
tesy from you. Will you have the kindness to write down 
what I shall dictate ?” 

u Most willingly, madame ; but if it is anything in the 
shape of a last will, I would remind you that it will be 
invalid without legal ” 

“ I know that,” she interrupted him ; “ but there is no 
time. My son must and will respect my last will in this 
shape.” 

Ilse brought writing materials and my grandmother 
dictated : 

“ I bequeath to Ilse Wichel the Dierkhof, with all its 
furniture and properties ” 

“ No, no,” cried Ilse, in terror ; “ I will not have it 1” 

My grandmother gave her a stern glance of reproach, 
and continued without pausing, “ as a proof of my grati- 
tude for her unbounded devotion and self-sacrifice. I 
bequeath further to my grandchild, Lenore von Sassen, all 
the papers in my possession, and let no one else, who- 
ever it may be, dare to lay claim to them.” 

Ilse started up and looked at her with surprise. The 
sick woman pointed to a cabinet. “ There must be a tin 
box there. Take it out, Ilse. I have entirely forgotten 
how much it contains.” 

Ilse opened the cabinet and placed a flat tin box upon 
the table. A rusty key was sticking in the lock 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRfNCESS. 


61 


“It must be a long, long while since it was opened,” 
muttered the sick woman, wearily raising her right hand 
to her brow. “ My mind grows dark, — I feel it, — what 
year is this ?” 

“ 1861,” replied the physician. 

“Ah, then, much that is there may have become worth- 
less !” she said, sorrowfully, as he laid back the cover. 
By her wish he then reckoned up the papers, which filled 
the box to the brim. 

“ Nine thousand thalers !” he announced. 

“Nine thousand thalers!” repeated my grandmother, 
contentedly. “It is enough to keep off want. There 
ought to be a little case in the box.” 

I saw Use shake her head mournfully at this sudden 
clearness of memory, — this connecting of the links of 
thought sundered for so many years. The physician 
took an unpretending little case out of the box. It con- 
tained a pearl necklace. 

“The last relic of the Jacobsohn splendour,” the sick 
woman whispered, mournfully, to herself. “ Use, put the 
necklace around that little brown neck. It belongs to 
your face, my child !” she said to me as I shrank from 
the cold, smooth contact. “ You have your mother’s eyes, 
but the Jacobsohn cast of features. The trinket has been 
a witness of much family affection, and happy, peaceful 
times of comfort. It has also fled from the stake and 
the persecution of Christian intolerance!” She gasped 
for breath. “Now let me sign!” she said, eagerly, 
after a pause of evident exhaustion. 

The doctor placed the paper upon the bed, and put the 
pen into her stiff fingers. She formed the letters — her 
last earthly act — with infinite difficulty, but the name, 
“Clotilde von Sassen, nte Jacobsohn,” was at last com- 
plete in tolerably firm characters at the bottom of the 

6 


62 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


document, the physician adding a few words in attesta- 
tion of his witness-ship. 

“ Do not cry, little dove,” she said to me, soothingly 
“ Come here once more.” 

I threw myself speechless upon the bed and kissed her 
hand. She sent her love to my father, and turned lief 
large, death-veiled eyes from me to Use with a beseeching 
expression. 

“This child must not languish on this lonely moor,” 
she said, significantly. 

“Madame, leave that to me,” Use answered with her 
usual brevity, although her lips quivered, and bright tears 
hung upon her eyelashes. 

Once more the cold, weary hand was passed lovingly 
over my face ; then my grandmother pushed me from her 
with that nervous haste that would hoard every second, 
and gazed at one of the windows with a strange, yearn- 
ing look that seemed to bear her soul upon its wings out 
into the great beyond. 

“ Christine, I forgive !” she twice cried loudly out into 
the distance. She was ready to go. Evidently relieved, 
she settled her head upon her pillow, looked up devoutly, 
and began with solemnity, although in a failing voice, 
“ Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one God ! Praised 
be his holy name,” — her voice died away in a gasp, and 
her head slowly and gently declined upon her breast. 

“ For ever and ever, amen !” The physician completed 
the sentence of the lips that were silent forever ; and 
then, with a gentle touch, he closed her eyes. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


63 


CHAPTER Y 1 1. 

I left the room. The first sorrow of my life had come 
upon me. I stood benumbed before the implacable “ gone 
forever !” that seems so incredible of the departed life. 

I had clung in these last moments to my grandmother 
with all the enthusiastic tenderness that is natural to an 
overflowing, youthful heart. I had tasted to the full the 
delicious sensation that my devoted love was ardently 
desired, and now I was tortured by the thought that I 
had not sufficiently impressed upon my grandmother how 
dearly and fondly I would love her. I ought to have re- 
peatedly assured her that care for her should be my 
whole pleasure and duty, if she would only get well 
again; but instead of that I had childishly wasted the 
precious time in talking of my love for all the world. 
That was the last thing I should have spoken of to one 
who had been so unkindly treated by the world. And 
now she was dead, and I could tell her nothing of all 
this. Too late ! What a sense of utter helplessness there 
is in those crushing words ! 

I went out through the courtyard into the open air. A 
strengthening breeze, still bearing with it traces of the 
dews of night, was sweeping across the moor. It was 
blowing the great, white, feathery night-cap above tlie 
peat-swamp away, rarefying it to a delicate lace curtain, 
behind which the fires of sunrise began to glow. The 
rustling oak boughs were tipped with ruddy gold, and 
the little panes in the gable window of the Dierkhof 
began to glitter. 


64 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


The blades of grass swayed beneath the sparkling 
dewdrops ; but none showed traces of my grandmother’s 
footsteps the night before. The windows of her chamber, 
which had always been half-darkened, were now wide 
open. I stood by the sill and looked in. The room was 
empty. The curtains, emerald-green in the bright morn- 
ing dawn, were caught back to the wall, letting the breeze 
sweep across the bed. It must have been long years since 
the sorrowful face of the boy Isaac had looked upon 
such a peaceful, quiet scene. The stalwart form, in which 
the blood had coursed restlessly, lay stretched beneath a 
white sheet, and was only to be recognized by the mag- 
nificent gray braids that had slipped out and fell to the 
floor over the side of the bed. 

A fly buzzed past me, and the flames of the candles 
in the candelabrum flickered in the draught. That was 
all that was stirring in the room, — even the clock had 
stopped. 

But without there were sounds of reawakening ex- 
istence. The cocks were crowing; Spitz was barking 
among the clucking and scratching hens ; and Molly 
was lowing for the hand that was to relieve her full 
udders. The cat came gliding across the roof, — she 
crossed the grass of the courtyard noiselessly, and crept, 
with a greedy sparkle in her green eyes, beneath the 
southern wood-tree, in whose branches a little bird waa 
chirping merrily. I ran around the corner and fright- 
ened her away. And in the nest of twigs upon the roof 
a noisy morning toilet was making, after which the storks 
flew rustling above my head to the swamp for their 
breakfast. Everything appeared as usual ; the front of 
the house alone presented an unwonted spectacle : a horse 
was neighing there in the fresh morning air, and behind 
the low garden-fence the doctor was standing with folded 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


65 


arms, gazing abroad upon the moor, sprinkled with dew 
and golden sunshine. 

The little, dusty chaise in which he had come stood 
before the door ; and in the Fleet I saw Use, as stiff and 
straight as ever. There was a clean white napkin spread 
upon the table, upon which stood cups, and bread and 
butter, and she was making coffee for the doctor. 

I went up to her in great agitation. 

“ Ilse, how can you do that ? How is it possible at 
such a moment ?” I cried, in a tone of angry reproach. 

“ Are others to be hungry and thirsty because I am 
suffering ?” she asked, in sharp reproof. “Did you see 
your grandmother die last night, and not learn from her 
to carry your head erect in the darkest times ?” 

Profoundly ashamed, I threw my arms around her 
neck ; for the face that she turned towards me was rigid 
with grief, and the healthy colour had entirely faded 
from her cheeks. Yet still her hands never rested, — not 
the smallest duty was omitted. 

The doctor entered, and the boy who had driven him. 
I passed them and left the house again. 

The Dierkhof ducks, their bills turned towards the 
moor, w’ere standing at the grated gate in the hedge, 
awaiting the moment when it should be opened and 
leave them free to run and plunge into the stream. 
One, however, was poking with its bill at a white, shape- 
less lump, tossing it about the yard, — it was the letter 
which my grandmother had hurled from her the night 
before and which Ilse had sought for in vain. It had 
flown through the open door. I unfastened the gate for 
the ducks, and picked up the ball of paper; it looked 
forlorn enough, — the dirty chaise-wheel had passed over 
it, and the duck’s bill had half torn it. 

Retiring to the seat beneath the southernwood-tree, I 
E 6* 


66 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PR IJS u ESS. 


smoothed the paper upon my knee and tried to fit the 
torn pieces together : some of them were missing, and 
the hand was a very faint one. With great difficulty I 
deciphered the following lines: 

“ I have never appealed to you, because I thought 
honour demanded that I should pursue, unaided and alone, 
the path that 1 had chosen for myself. ‘ The outcast 7 did 
all that she could to prevent the shadow of her career from 
falling upon you, — my own name has never passed my 
lips or the lips of others in my presence ; I have avoided 
all inquiries after you or my former home, lest I should 
arouse a suspicion that I was related to the Yon Sassens; 
but indeed it would not have disgraced you, for — what- 
ever you may think, I say it with pride — I have been 
unanimously pronounced the wonder, the most brilliant 

star of the age 77 Here a piece of paper was missing, 

but I read upon the next page of the sheet, “Now mis- 
fortune has befallen me ; whither shall I go if not to 
you ? — I have lost my voice, my glorious voice! The 
physicians say that a course of baths in Germany may 
restore it to me. But my purse is empty. The dis- 
honesty of others has lost me every penny that I pos- 
sessed. On my knees I sue to you, — you, who roll in 
plenty, who have never known what want, grim want, 
actually is. I could tell you of sleepless nights of agony. 
Forget, for once, — for one short hour, — that I was obsti- 
nate and disobedient, and send me the means of succour. 

What are a few hundred thalers to you, who 77 The 

broad, black trace of the wheel had entirely obliterated 
the rest of the pale characters. Upon a small piece the 
address of the writer was still legible, and upon another, 
the two words that had sufficed to transport my grand- 
mother with such fury, — the signature, “ Your Chris* 
tine. 77 


TUE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 61 

Who was this Christine? — this wonder, the most bril- 
liant star of the age ? 

The sentence, “ On my knees I sue to you,” produced 
a tremendous dramatic effect upon my uncultured, un- 
sophisticated mind. I saw before me the graceful maiden 
of one of my story-books, falling upon her knees, and ex- 
tending her white arms in imploring entreaty. And she 
had lost her voice, — her glorious voice! Instinctively 
my hands sought my throat, — how terrible it must be to 
take breath for a full, free note, and have it die away 
dumbly ! 

Neither Fraulein Streit nor Use had ever said one word 
about this “ outcast,” and yet she must have been very 
dear to my grandmother, for she had filled her latest 
thoughts. Her solemn, ‘‘Christine, I forgive,” still thrilled 
through me. Involuntarily I remembered the prodigal 
son who had always been the beloved child of his father’s 
secret heart. 

I put the remains of the letter into my pocket and 
went into the Fleet. The doctor’s chaise was just rolling 
out of the gate towards the break-neck road across 
the moor, and from an opposite direction Heinz cam*5 
striding towards the Dierkhof. It occurred to me at 
sight of him that he had absented himself for a strangely 
long time, and I stood beside Ilse, who had accompanied 
the doctor to the door and remained upon the threshold. 
Also I thought that friend Heinz approached rather un- 
certainly, — he spent a great deal of unnecessary time over 
the latch of the gate before he came towards us ; he evi- 
dently drew near most reluctantly. At sight of our 
swollen eyes, he stood still in bewilderment. 

“ Well, what did he think ?” he asked, with an embar- 
rassed stammer, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder 
after the doctor’s vehicle. 


68 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“Good heavens, Heinz! don’t you know?” I cried; 
but Use interrupted me. 

“Where have you been?” she asked her brother, 
shortly. 

“ At my own house,” he replied, with a defiant air. 

Heinz defiant ! I could scarcely believe my eyes or 
ears ; but sure enough, there he stood, he who had always 
been docility itself, evidently gaining courage from the 
sound of his own voice ; for he had the incredible auda- 
city to return Use’s angry glance. 

“ Indeed ! And what pressing duty required your pres- 
ence at your own house ? Your birds, probably, needed 
feeding !” she said, sharply. 

He looked vaguely and anxiously about him. “ Dear, 
dear! — feed the birds at one o’clock at night; who 
would be such a fool ? I sat quietly within my four 
walls,” he blurted out, “which my father built with his 
own honest hands, — and there is a pious text over the 
door. Was I to stay at the Dierkhof when a Jew soul 
was going straight to hell ? Oh, Use, what would our 
father think if he knew you had taken service with a Jew 
woman ?” 

“ Oh, Heinz, what would our father think if he knew 
that you had taken service with a Christian where you 
were nearly starved and frozen to death, and threatened 
with beatings ?” she angrily parodied his words. “ What 
new wisdom is this? — but I know where it comes from !” 
And she pointed in the direction of a large village beyond 
the forest, where Heinz had once taken service. 

“ You are right, there’s where I got it,” he replied, as 
defiantly as before, nodding his head stubbornly. “ The 
Jews are cursed to all eternity, because they crucified the 
Saviour. My master said so, and he was a rich man and 
a farmer ; and the pastor said so in the pulpit, and he 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


69 


ought to know, — or where was the use of his being a 
pastor ?” 

Use looked the speaker full in the eye. “Now, see 
here!” she said, resolutely, raising her forefinger, and 
going so close to him that he shrank back in sudden 
alarm. “ Once for all, it is not true that tne Lord will take 
revenge eternally upon the Jews for the death of the Sa- 
viour. If that were true, then good-by to my faith in Him, 
for He would not fulfil his own command, ‘ Bless them 
that curse you 1’ When I read of Christ’s sufferings, it 
is true that I hate the Jews; but, understand me, brother 
Heinz, only those Jews who were living then. How could 
I be so inhuman as to hate those who live to-day and 
came into the world innocent little children, instructed by 
their parents in the faith of their fathers? Hey, Master 
Heinz, how would you like it if any one injured me, and I 
revenged myself by beating his children ?” 

“ That’s all book-learning I” said Heinz, disheartened ; 
“you learned all that from the old Frau.” 

“ I did not learn it as we learned Bible-texts at school; 
my conscience and” — she pointed to her forehead — “ my 
good, common sense taught it to me. I used to talk, it is 
true, a great deal with my poor mistress ; one word led to 
another, and I have comforted her many a time when the 
‘priests’ did her a mischief. The Jews crucified the Sa- 
viour once ; but such men as the pastor over yonder,” 
and she pointed again towards the village beyond the 
wood, “ crucify him every day ; fire and sword, and cursing 
and evil-speaking do not make a very pleasant kingdom 
of heaven, and people are not to be blamed for not wish- 
ing to go there! Now, you know what I think, and I 
say again, — fie upon you, you ought to be thoroughly 
ashamed of yourself! You thankless man, you have eaten 
bread at the Dierkhof for many a year, — and I think you 


70 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


found it very good — the Jew’s bread, — and then to leave 
the old Frau alone upon her deathbed! Go home and 
read the chapter of the good Samaritan !” 

She turned round and went into the house. 

She was right, perfectly right! Every word she said 
found an echo in my heart, and lightened it of its bitter- 
ness. I was greatly incensed, and yet I pitied the poor 
fellow as he stood there almost crushed, with downcast 
eyes, not daring to enter the house. How could it be ? 
This man, whose heart was as tender as a child’s, who 
would not hurt a fly, suddenly developed a vein in his 
character of harshness and implacability, actually believ- 
ing that he was fully justified, nay, authorized as a 
Chritian, in so doing! 

“ Heinz, you’ve done very wrong,” I said, severely, to 
him. 

“Ah, little Princess, how can I tell what’s right?” ho 
sighed, and the tears stood in his eyes. “It’s a mortal 
sin before God if I don’t obey the pastor, and now Ilse 
says I’m a bad fellow because I do obey him.” 

“Use is always right, — you certainly ought to have 
known that,” I said, no longer able to maintain the tone 
of severity that I had adopted. Crude as my thoughts 
were, I could understand that there was not one spark of 
cruelty in his nature; he had been systematically inocu- 
lated with it. 

I gazed up into the sky, — the bright light that flooded 
everything was balm to my burdened heart, and for the 
first time, having witnessed death in the night, I grasped 
the glorious idea of the resurrection. 

I took Heinz’s hand between my own. “You must not 
stand out here in the yard,” I said. “ Come in with me. 
Ilse will soon be kind again, and my poor, dear grand 
mother has long forgiven you, — she is in heaven !” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


VI 


“ God knows how sorry I am for the old Frau !” he 
murmured ; and let me lead him into the Fleet like a little 
child. 

Use was in the courtyard: she placed her bucket in 
the trough of the pump and raised the pump-handle, — 
but, at the first sound it made, she dropped it and grew 
ashy pale. “ Oh, God ! I cannot hear that!” she sobbed. 

She came in, dropped into a chair, and hid her eyes 
with her apron. But her agitation lasted only a minute. 

“ What folly is this !” she said, harshly, sat upright, 
and smoothed her apron over her knees. “ I would gladly 
see the old Frau standing by the well once more, where 
she so often cooled her poor, hot head, and yet I ought to 
thank God that she lies there quiet and peaceful, and is 
released from her sufferings.” 

“ Use, was Christine the cause of her suffering ?” I 
asked, timidly. 

She looked sharply at me. “Hm !” she ejaculated, after 
a moment’s reflection, “you heard that last night. Well, I 
may as well tell you that she caused your grandmother 
all the suffering that a bad daughter can.” 

“Ah! my father has a sister?” I cried, in amazement. 

“A step-sister, child. Your grandmother was married 
first to a Jew, who died young, — Christine was still in 
swaddling-clothes. At the end of two years your grand- 
mother had the child and herself baptized, and became 
Frau Rathin von Sassen, — now you know everything.” 

“ No, Use, not yet, — what wrong did Christine do ?” 

“ She ran away secretly, and joined the play-actors.” 

“ Is that so very bad ?” 

“ The running away is, of course, — you ought to know 
that for yourself. As to the play-actors, I never knew 
any, and so I can’t say whether they are bad or good. 
Have you done now ?” 


72 


THE LTTTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ Use, don’t be angry,’’ I said, hesitating. “ I want to 
tell you something, — Christine is very unhappy,— she has 
lost her voice.” 

“ Aha ! — you found the letter, then, and read it, Lenore ?” 
<me asked, in her most chilling tone. 

I mutely nodded. 

“Are you not ashamed of yourself?” she scolded. 
*' You reproached me with doing my duty in the hour of 
grief, while at the same time you were prying into strange 
letters that did not in the least concern you. That is the 
same as stealing, — do you know that ? Besides, I don’t 
believe one word in the whole letter, — rest assured of 
that, and be content !” 

“No, I cannot be content ! I pity her. Are you really 
not going to send her anything ? Ah, Use, I beg you ” 

“Not a penny, — she took more than her share of the 
inheritance when she left her home secretly in the night, 
—and that, too, rankled in that poor old brain in there ” 

“My grandmother forgave her, Use.” 

“ What need to tell me that ? A mother might forgive 
when she was bidding farewell to earth ; but I, who have 
witnessed her misery for years, and shared the burden 
with her, cannot. Do you suppose there is any truth in 
the letter? Oh, yes, — she will fall on her knees, but not 
to ask for forgiveness, — God forbid ! She has lived long 
enough, and comfortably enough, without that. She 
wants money ! — the money that she loves — that is worth 
falling on her knees for !” 

How deep the feeling must have been that forced such 
bitter words from Ilse, usually so taciturn ! 

“ And now you know why your grandmother never 
could endure the chink of money,” she continued, drawing 
a deep breath. “ It can do you no harm to learn what 
terrible misfortunes are often caused by those shining 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 73 

lhalers that you saw yesterday for the first time in yout 
life. Your grandmother was once the richest lady in 
Hanover: her first husband left her full and plenty. 
Afterwards, when she married the second time, she loved 
her husband too well, and sacrificed everything to him. 
She gave up her faith, she dared not take that to him ; but 
there is not much fuss made about receiving Jewish 
money. Before very long she found out that her husband 
cared nothing for her love: her money was all he wanted, 
and he scattered it to the winds, — he knew well enough 
how to do that !” 

“ Was that my grandfather, Ilse ? w 

The ruddy colour suddenly reappeared in all its inten- 
sity of hue upon Use’s cheek-bones. 

“Now, child, you give me no peace, — you would ask 
the blue off the sky to see what there was behind it!” 
she said, with irritation, getting up from her chair. “ But 
let me tell you never to come to me with your Christine 
again, — she is dead as far as I am concerned: remember 
that, child ! You need never m-ore think of the wretched 
creature, — such thoughts do not belong in your young 
head 1” 

She pushed a cup towards Heinz, who had seated him- 
self humbly and silently on a chair, and poured him out 
some coffee, but she did not look at him. Then she went 
again to the well. I saw her bite her lips as she raised 
the pump-handle, — but it had to be done. The water 
came pouring out until the bucket was full. 

But, even if Ilse were always right, I could not obey 
her here. I could not but think of the unhappy Christine ! 
Why, she was my aunt ! My aunt ! It sounded sweet 
and good, but far too prosaic for the charming image that 
hovered before me. And yet she was older than my 
father, more than forty-two years old, — how horrible 1 

7 


74 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


But all that mattered little : my fancy adorned her with 
every grace, — she was a singer. 

I fled with my overflowing heart to the solitary mound, 
and gazed up with aching eyes into the clear, blue sky. 
Could she, my dear grandmother, see me sadly sitting 
there, she would not be angry that I still thought of 
Christine, — she had forgiven her. 


CHAPTER YIII. 

Four weeks had passed since my grandmother’s death 
I saw her laid in the churchyard of the nearest village 
The good old pastor prayed as fervently for the soul of 
the departed as if she had been one of the most devoted 
of his flock, and Heinz seemed entirely to have forgotten 
that within those planks lay a baptized Jewess who had 
returned to the faith of her fathers, — he wept bitterly. 
Already bright summer flowers were blooming on the 
freshly-made mound, — they burst forth of their own ac- 
cord from the dark earth, like lovely visions from those 
who slept below, and nodded, bright-eyed, in the sunny air. 

It was the most beautiful time of year for the solitary 
Hierkhof, which lay in the midst of a cherry-coloured ex- 
panse. The heath was coming into bloom, and the b es, 
that had hitherto been dallying in the sweet fields of rape- 
seed and buckwheat blossoms, were luxuriating upon the 
broad, honey-dripping level. Again they hummed sooth- 
ingly and beguilingly about the dear old roof, — the world- 
old, monotonous melody of the moorland ! And such 
crowds of my favourites, the blue butterflies, floated hither 
and thither that it seemed as if the heavens above 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


75 


had been scattered abroad in fragments ; on the spots of 
sandy waste glittering gold beetles ran to and fro, and 
around the flowers, in meadow and garden, fluttered gor- 
geous humming-birds and many-coloured butterflies. 

Formerly I had chased the butterflies sometimes for 
hours on the moor, delighted to observe closely the va- 
riety of hues upon their painted wings; but all that was 
at an end. I spent much of my time in my grandmother’s 
room that, with its old-fashioned furniture, brought long 
ago from her Jewish home, possessed a mysterious charm 
for me. Everything was kept in its former place, — not a 
chair had been moved : the old clock was regularly wound 
up; and that nothing might disturb the belief that the de- 
parted still lingered there, Use had replaced the burned 
candles in the candelabrum with fresh ones. 

Sometimes she would open a drawer or a cabinet here 
and there for me, — they were, for the most part, empty ; 
when she fled from the world, my grandmother had left 
all that she could behind her. For me every scrap of 
paper containing written words, every faded flower, was 
an interesting discovery. 

In one closet were hanging various articles of dress 
which my grandmother had never worn upon the moor. 
One day Use selected from among them a black woollen 
gown, ripped it, and began to make it up. She had 
learned dressmaking in the city; it was her greatest 
pride. I was terrified when she requested me to let her 
try it on me, — it looked like a breastplate. 

“ Oh, Use, pray don’t !” I protested, with a shiver, 
plucking at the neck, which came close up around my 
throat, while my elbows threatened to burst the seams of 
the sleeves. 

“ Never mind, — you will soon get used to it,” she said, 
coldly, and went on sewing. 


76 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


We were sitting in the courtyard beneath the oaks, 
whither I had carried a table and chairs. The quivering 
noonday glare was blooding above the plain beyond, but 
here it was shady, cool, and quiet; the bees hummed 
drowsily, and now and then the young storks would 
chatter in their nest. I held in my lap the huge round 
brown straw hat that Use, about five years before, had 
procured from the city for me, and I was busy, at her 
bidding, in stripping from it the pink ribbons that had 
been the delight of my eyes. 

Heinz returned from the village and laid a letter upon 
the table before Ilse. 

My father had replied by letter to the telegraphic de- 
spatch announcing my grandmother’s death, excusing 
himself from attending the funeral upon the plea of seri- 
ous illness. Since then there had been a tolerably lively 
correspondence between Ilse and himself; what it was 
about I did not know, — I was not allowed to see one line 
of it, but I knew that scarcely five days had elapsed be- 
tween Use’s last letter and my father’s reply, which she 
now read to herself before me. 

“Nothing in it 1” she said, putting it into her pocket. 
“ Day after to-morrow we leave, — that’s decided I” 

Hat and scissors fell from my hands. 

“We leave 1” I repeated, in dismay. “You are going 
away with Heinz ? And you will leave me utterly alone 
at the Dierkhof ?” 

“That would be lively for the poor Dierkhof 1” she 
cried, and for the first time since my grandmother’s death 
a faint smile hovered upon her lips. “ Foolish child, it is 
you who are going away !” 

I rose and pushed back my chair so hastily that it fell 
over with a clatter. 

“I? Whereto?” I ejaculated. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 77 

“ To the city,” was the laconic reply. 

The vast, sunny moorland, the vigorous, rustling oaks 
above me, vanished, — the wretched, dark back room 
opened before me, and I looked out upon the damp, 
barren garden inclosed within high houses. 

“ And what am I to do in the city ?” I feebly asked 

“ Learn ” 

“ I will not go, Use, you may rely upon it,” I declared, 
with decision, struggling the while with bitter, scalding 
tears. “ Do with me what you will, you shall see how, 
when it comes to the last, I will cling to the very door- 
posts. Could you have the heart to tear me away ?” 
In despair, I shook Heinz by the sleeve as he stood with 
his mouth open like a pillar of stone. “ Do you hear ? I 
am to go away. Heinz, will you allow it?” 

“ Is it really true, Ilse ?” he asked, in distress, clasp- 
ing his hard, rough hands. 

“Just hearken to these two children! — they really be- 
have as if the little one’s throat were to be cut !” she 
said, but I could see perfectly well that she was far from 
unmoved by my violent outburst. “Do you suppose, 
Heinz, that this can go on forever, that the child can wan- 
der about the moor like a heathen all day long, and come 
home to me in the evening, barefoot, with her stockings 
and shoes in her hand ? She knows nothing, and under- 
stands nothing, but runs like a hare if a stranger crosses 
her path. What will become of her ? Be reasonable, 
Lenore,” she said, drawing me down into her lap like a 
little child. “ I am going to take you to your father. 
Stay away two years and learn what you should, and 
then, if you do not like it, you shall come back, and we 
will live together always, — hey V 1 

Two years ! Why, it was an eternity ! Twice over the 
heather would bloom, the storks would depart and return 

I* 


78 


TUE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


twice, and I not at the Dierkhof 1 I should be immured 
within four dull walls, — knitting stockings, writing exer- 
cises, or learning Bible-texts by heart ! I shuddered and 
shook myself, — every fibre of my body was steeled to re- 
sistance and energetic opposition. 

“ Use, let me be buried deep at once in the church- 
yard 1” I exclaimed. “ You shall not take me back to 
that horrible back room I” 

“What nonsense!” she interrupted me. “Do you 
suppose your father carries it about with him in his 
trunk? He has moved away from there, and everything 
is different. He lives now in K .” 

In an instant there rose before me a vision of a head 
covered with brown curls and a dazzling white forehead, 

. — it always came thus unexpectedly, and each time 
frightened me so that the blood rose to my temples. 

“ My father does not want me,” I said, hiding my face 
on Use’s neck. 

“ We shall see,” she replied, with an ill-suppressed sigh, 
but she threw back her head, and pushed me from her. 

“ Must it really be ? Oh, Use ” 

“ It must be, child. And now be quiet, and don’t 
make my life a burden. Think of your grandmother, — 
it was her wish.” 

And she sewed the second sleeve into the black gown 
with renewed diligence; but Heinz dropped his extin- 
guished pipe into his pocket and slipped away. Towards 
evening I saw him sitting over on the old Hun mound; 
his hands were resting on his knees, and he was gazing 
fixedly into space. I ran over there and sat down beside 
him; the tears that Use’s stern presence had controlled 
burst forth unrestrainedly. The blue sky above us did 
not often witness such grief at parting. 

The next day the dwelling-room looked forlorn. A 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


79 


huge wooden chest stood upon the floor, and Use was 
packing it. 

“ There, look here !” she said, holding towards me a 
bundle of coarse, gaily checked bed-coverings. “Are 
they not splendid ? There is real stuff in them ! Those 
cobwebs that your grandmother slept upon I never could 
endure.” 

She pushed contemptuously aside a pile of very fine 
embroidered linen sheets. “ You shall take these new 
coverings with you : I have spun them from time to 
time for the Dierkhof. Keep them nice !” 

And a quantity of stiff woollen stockings took up con- 
siderable room in the trunk. For years Use had been 
accumulating all sorts of supplies for me, and now they 
were to be displayed to the world. Colossal feather-beds 
were tied up into as small a compass as possible, and 
sewed in bagging, — a huge piece of luggage. 

All this preparation made my heart sore, and yet there 
were moments when my youthful soul was thrilled with 
expectation, when hope dawned brightly for an instant; 
but it was gone like lightning, and by a train of thought 
that was odd enough, my eyes then glanced down timidly 
at my shoes. They were well worn, and accorded liberal 
space for my feet. I trod upon them as heavily as I pos- 
sibly could, and sought to soothe my anxious mind with 
the undeniable certainty that the nails did not make half 
so loud a clatter as they had produced a few weeks be- 
fore But this did not always suffice, and gradually my 
uneasiness brought me to the point of preferring a humble 
request that Use would buy me a new pair of shoes upon 
our journey. This was characteristically received. She 
took off one of my shoes and held it towards the light, 

“ It would be hard to find such stitching and such 
soles,” said she. “ Those shoes will do to dance in 


80 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


for two years to come ! There’s no need of any new 
ones.” 

And there was an end of the matter. 

At last the morning actually arrived when I was to 
leave my beloved Dierkhof. By four o’clock I was run- 
ning about the dewy moor ; I opened wide my arms 
above the blooming heather towards the misty peat-marsh, 
and shook the good old fir so violently by way of fare- 
well that the last dry needles of the previous year came 
fluttering down upon my tossing hair. Spitz ran by my 
side in high glee ; he thought all my wild antics were in- 
tended to make play for him. I wove a gay garland and 
hung it upon Molly’s horns ; she looked up sleepily, too 
comfortable to low gently by way of thanks or adieu. 

Then Use put on me my new black dress, and tied 
around my neck a huge, snow-white linen ruffle from 
my grandmother’s wardrobe, upon which my brown head 
lay like a ripe hazel-nut upon a little heap of snow. 
Above it arched the immense brown straw hat which Use 
had trimmed with a black ribbon. I must have presented 
an extraordinary appearance, — not unlike the little toad- 
stools with their huge hats which I had always thought 
so comical. 

After I had swallowed my coffee, well diluted with 
tears, Use produced a bandbox, from which she took, 
with great solemnity and with the tips of her fingers, a 
purple silk bonnet. “ This was my Sunday bonnet in 
Hanover,” she said, going to the mirror and putting the 
silken roof carefully upon the top of her head. “ In the 
city one can’t go out in the street without a bonnet ; it 
does not do.” 

I looked shyly up at her. The idea of fashion, of 
course, could not enter my mind. I never dreamed that 
beyond the moor there was in existence a power to which 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


81 


human beings subjected themselves without a will of 
their own, defacing and altering their exterior forms ac- 
cording to its whim and pleasure. Therefore my respect 
for the beak-like shape of Use’s bonnet was undiminished, 
but her head-covering certainly had suffered both in colour 
and gloss during its twenty years of seclusion in the band- 
box. Ilse did not seem to think so, however. She twisted 
the discoloured pansies about, above her frizzled yellow 
hair, tossed the hanging strings back over her shoulders, 
put on a large black woollen shawl, and was ready to go. 

Heinz and a man from the nearest village carried the 
luggage. Gently but firmly Ilse led me out of the door 
when my feet lingered upon the threshold. I heard the 
key turn in the lock behind me. Ilse drove back the 
ducks and hens that would have followed us ; they 
quacked and clucked, while Molly lowed softly from her 
imprisonment in the barn. Ah, the grated gate was closed 
and bolted behind me, and I wandered away from my 
childhood’s paradise by the same path that Fraulein 
Streit had taken years before ! 

How I took leave of Heinz I cannot tell. There still 
hangs a veiling mist of tears over that sunny morning of 
my departure. I only know that I threw both arms 
around the kindly old fellow, and buried my face in his 
shabby linen coat, in spite of the broad, stiff brim of my 
hat, and that he, in the midst of the gaping village youth, 
kept his face hidden in his blue checked handkerchief 
while I mounted to the seat of the vehicle that was to 
convey us to the nearest railway station. 


82 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


CHAPTER IX. 

It was high noon when, stiff and exhausted, we ar- 
rived at the railway depot in K , after having passed 

half of the previous day and all the night in the cars. 
The novel impressions of the journey had almost over- 
powered me. The sun was just above our heads ; it 
seemed determined to scorch up the snorting train, the 
crowded city p and our insignificant selves. 

“ To Doctor von Sassen’s !” Ilse said, with a command- 
ing air, to two men who were piling our luggage upon a 
hand-cart. 

“ Don’t know him,” said one of them. 

Ilse told the number of the house. 

“ Oh, the great seed-house, Claudius & Co. !” he said, 
respectfully, and the cart rolled away. 

A stifling cloud of dust enveloped us upon the journey 
from the depot to the town, and it lay like ashes upon the 
grass around and the pretty slender chestnut-trees above 
our heads. Here, at least, there was a breath of air, but 
as we entered the streets a sultry mephitic atmosphere 
received us. Oh, for the purple level at home, the re- 
freshing moorland breeze, and the cool, rustling oaks 
around the DierkhofI 

“ This is too terrible, Use !” I gasped, as she seized my 
hand and dragged me to the pavement, when a carriage 
rolled around the corner. 

Hitherto we had met only few people, the noonday heat 
causing the streets to be silent and deserted. Now the 
sound of drums and fifes was heard. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


S3 


“ The guards !” said Use, listening with a pleased 
smile, — perhaps old Hanoverian memories of five-and- 
twenty years before were stirring within her. 

The sound drew nearer, and presently a crowd of people 
came pouring along the street. 

“ Ho, look at them ! look at them ! They’ve been hang- 
ing up in the closet a hundred years!” shouted a boy, 
standing just in front of Use. He twisted his fingers 
together on the top of his head in imitation of the shape 
of her bonnet, and made a face. Every one laughed, and 
even the two men with our luggage grinned. 

“ Rabble of boys !” Use said, scornfully, holding her- 
self particularly stiff and straight, while to my infinite 
relief we turned aside into a quieter street. “ In Han- 
over the people are better mannered. I never saw such 
behaviour before 1” 

Every nerve in my body quivered, and I was over- 
come with profound depression. Ilse, whom I held in 
such sacred respect, had been insulted. I pressed her 
hand, which had hitherto guided and protected me, caress- 
ingly and tenderly to my cheek, and walked on mechani- 
cally by her side. 

The noise of the parade died away in the distance, and 
the men before us at last halted in a secluded, quiet street 
of very imposing mansions, just before a gloomy building 
of stone. Its basement windows were all grated, and a 
high flight of steps, provided with an elegant iron railing, 
led up to the principal door of entrance. The old house, 
with its massive front towards the north, might well have 
impressed me, but I shrank back from the grated win- 
dows, from the discoloured stones, where no sunlight ever 
fell, and the heavy oaken door, richly carved and fluted, 
with its huge, shining brass knobs, stared at me like some 
gloomy, dreary riddle. 


84 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ Oh, Use, Use, you see I was right about the back 
room !” I cried, in despair. “ Let us return 1” 

“Wait,” she said, and urged me up the steps. The 
men took the trunks upon their shoulders and stood be- 
hind us. Use rang. Instantly the door was slowly 
opened, and an old man admitted us to a spacious and 
lofty hall. The floor beneath our feet was a mosaic of 
polished marble ; the broad, winding staircase in the 
background was of marble, as well as the two huge pil- 
lars that formed an arch overhead in the midst of the hall. 
This marble made the place delightfully cool, but it was 
all in shadow, pervaded by a dim, religious light that 
even the sunshine that streamed in at the top of the stairs 
could not brighten. 

“ Claudius & Co.?” asked Use. 

The man nodded stiffly, stepping back with evident 
reluctance to allow the heavily-laden porters to enter. 

“ Doctor von Sassen lives here ?” 

“No, not here,” he replied, advancing again to bar the 
way. “ Herr von Sassen lives in the Karolinenlust. You 
must turn round the street corner to your right ” 

“ Gracious heavens ! must we go out into that fearful 
heat again ?” Use groaned, with a side glance at me. 

“I am sorry,” said the old man, with a cold shrug, 
“but you cannot go through this house; and these men 
ought to know that there is a side street and door for such 
clumsy luggage <as this,” he added, pointing at it. 

As he raised his voice in remonstrance a dog began to 
bark angrily in the background of the hall, where a few 
steps led down to a door. Upon these steps stood an 
old lady, in a black silk dress, and cap trimmed with 
gay ribbons, carefully wiping with a cloth the little 
paws of a pretty greyhound that had just come in from 
outside. 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


85 


“Let them go through, Erdmann,” she called out, 
kindly. 

“ But, Friiulein Fliedner, just look at the dust,” he said, 
in a tone of distress, as if there were danger of our cov- 
ering the polished floor with all the ashes of Vesuvius 
from our clothes and shoes ; “ and if Herr Claudius 
should be in the back office and see them going across the 
yard, what will he say, Friiulein Fliedner?” 

“ I will send Dora down with a broom,” she said, “ and 
I will take all the blame, if there is any, upon myself. 
Besides, Herr Claudius is certainly not in the back office ; 
he is to drive to Dorotheenthal in five minutes.’ ’ 

And she herself opened the door of the courtyard and 
beckoned to us to pass through the hall. A smile that 
she could not quite suppress hovered upon her delicate 
features as Ilse inclined her tower-crowned head in 
acknowledgment, but she quickly turned away and as- 
cended the steps again, with the growling dog in her 
arms. 

“A sensible woman,” said Ilse to herself with satisfac- 
tion, as the door closed behind us. 

The word “ yard” had fairly electrified me. There in- 
stantly fluttered before me all the feathered inhabitants of 
the Dierkhof, but nothing like them was to be seen in the 
great blank square upon which we entered. It was formed 
by the principal house, two long side wings at right angles 
to it, and a wall at the back. There was a large, open 
gateway in the left wing, through which the houses in 
the neighbouring streets were to be seen. A number of 
new wooden boxes were piled up on the clean-swcpt 
pavement, and the total absence of curtains to the win- 
dows of these back buildings designated them as the 
business part of the house of Claudius & Co. 

Just as we entered the yard a groom was leading » 
8 


86 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


pair of fiery horses from the stable towards a glittering 
barouche that stood before the carriage-house. 

The men with our luggage went straight towards a gate 
in the wall opposite us, and we followed them. 

“Where are those people going?” a voice suddenly 
called after us in a rather displeased tone. 

I drew my hat down over my eyes, and took good care 
not to turn my head. I instantly recognized the voice of 
the old gentleman in the brown hat, although it was not 
as gentle as it had been four weeks before on the moor. 
Then he was in the back office, and now “ what would he 
say ?” as the old man in the hall had remarked. The 
two men halted as at the word of command, not ventur- 
ing to go a step farther ; but Use was determined. 

“We wish to go to Herr von Sassen’s; may we pass 
through here ?” she asked, politely. 

No answer was returned, but the gentleman must have 
made some assenting gesture, for Ilse opened the gate 
without delay, and the porters passed through. Again, 
as on the morning before at the Dierkhof, she had to push 
me over the threshold, for I stood transfixed. My eyes, 
accustomed only to the uniform grayish-brown or purple 
of the moorland, roamed in utter bewilderment over the 
sea of colour that actually flooded the wide space before 
me. It was impossible for me to believe that those rich 
streams of variegated or delicately-shaded hues were in 
reality only thickly- planted flower-beds. For the first 
time I began to understand how human fancy could have 
conceived the world of fairy lore ; this exquisite field of 
flowers floated like a lovely enchanted island in the midst 
of the novel world, which had hitherto seemed to me so 
odious and dusty. 

Just at my feet there was a large bed of heliotrope ; a 
strong fragrance of vanilla made the air around heavy ; I 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


87 


became, as it were, intoxicated. The hot, dusty streets, 
the tiresome journey, the noisy parade, the jeering rab- 
ble, and my horror of the dreary back room were all for- 
gotten. My hat was no longer pulled firmly down upon 
my head, — I threw it high into the air. 

“Oh, Use, I should like to lie down and bury myself 
among these flowers I” I cried, in delight. 

“You are quite capable of it,” she said, dryly, retain- 
ing me by her side. 

The uninterrupted hum of bees and the babbling of 
distant water were all that disturbed the silence and soli- 
tude of the garden. The birds had silently withdrawn to 
the cool shade of the bushes, and human beings were en- 
joying their noonday repose. One elderly man only, in 
the dress of a gardener, came out of a green-house as we 
passed, and showed the porters the nearest way to the 
“ Karolinenlust.” Use thanked him. 

We reached a stream spanned by a pretty iron bridge ; 
it formed the boundary of the large flower-garden ; the 
opposite bank was clothed with luxuriant shrubbery, 
which, where it parted, showed glimpses of shady velvet 
lawn planted with groups of trees, and intersected by 
well-kept gravel-walks. 

I started and fled behind Use when we had crossed the 
bridge, for a laugh greeted our ears, — the same melo- 
dious laugh that I had heard at the mound four weeks 
before, and which I knew I never should forget as long 
as I lived. I dreaded it in spite of its melody, for where- 
ever it was there were the disdainful eyes that inspired 
me with such terror. Use’s broad, bony figure entirely 
hid my diminutive person ; so we passed on through 
shady alleys and cool groves. Loud exclamations, laugh- 
ter, and ringing, girlish voices sounded more and more 
distinctly, until wc suddenly saw gay-coloured rings 


88 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


flying through the air above the gravel-walk upon which 
we had just entered. 

One of the rings went astray and flew in among the 
shrubbery. A young, delicate lady and a slender man in 
light summer costume pursued it with lifted arms and 
sticks held high in the air ; together they plunged deep 
'into the bushes where it had disappeared. The slender 
man was Herr Claudius, and the girl running beside him 
with swift, delicately-shod feet, and loose, floating hair, 
seemed utterly odious to me with her silvery laughter, 
although I had not even seen her face. I felt very oddly. 
I was vexed, yet knew not why, and I breathed easier, 
with a sense of relief, when I saw I could slip past with- 
out meeting the young gentleman. 

I peeped out from behind Use, and saw several other 
ladies standing about, one overtopping them all, — a tall, 
strongly-made figure in a white dress, over which she had 
thrown a flame-coloured jacket embroidered with gold. 
There was something bold in her gestures, and yet again 
something of proud indifference, the result of conscious- 
ness of power and great self-possession. 

“All good spirits, praise the Lord !” she cried, with a 
mock air of fright, as Use, followed by the porters, came 
in sight, and then she gave way to a thoughtless burst of 
laughter. 

Use turned with a look of intelligence and glanced at 
the bundle of bedding that rocked ridiculously to and fro 
upon the porter’s head. 

In an instant all the ladies surrounded us. 

“ Good gracious, Lenore ! what are you pulling at my 
skirts for, and hanging back like a small child ?” Use re- 
monstrated, shaking me off and then dragging me for- 
ward. 

How ashamed I was ! In one hand I held my hat and 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


89 


in the other the huge white ruffle which, — Heaven only 
knows how or when, — I had taken off of my neck. If I 
had been standing in the pillory, my shy face could not 
have worked and flushed more painfully than it did, ex- 
posed to the fire of all those strange, curious eyes. 

“ Oh, a little gipsy 1” two voices cried at the same time, 
as I raised my eyes. 

“ Oh, yes, why not? — a gipsy girl I” said Ilse, greatly 
offended. “ She is Herr von Sassen’s own child.” 

“What! has that mummy any children?” the tall 
young lady interrupted her, and her red lips quivered 
with suppressed irritation. But the others drew back a 
little and regarded me differently, with a kind of amiable 
respect. 

At this moment the young gentleman returned to 
the open space where we were. I looked down at my 
shoes, as they sprawled their clumsy proportions upon 
the gravel, and then I pulled at the skirt of my black 
dress, to lengthen it, if I might, by even a fraction of an 
inch. 

As he came across the grass, the young man gracefully 
tossed up the ring and caught it repeatedly, in spite of 
all the endeavours of the young lady at his side to catch 
the pretty thing in her own white hands. Suddenly he 
saw me, he started, and contracted his eyebrows over his 
large brown eyes in a gaze of scrutiny; then he came 
directly towards me. 

“What! by Jove! here is the little moorland Prin. 
cess!” he cried, in amazement. 

“ Who ?” asked the tall young lady, surprised. 

“Why, you know, Chnrlotte, the little moorland Prin- 
cess I told you about ! — the barefooted little creature that 
slipped through the heather like a lizard, — a lizard, to be 
sure, with the Princess’s crown !” He burst into a laugh, 


.90 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


11 How in all the world did the little pearl-seller come 
here ?” 

The want of consideration with which he criticised me 
in my presence, and the haughty young man’s astonish- 
ment at finding me in his garden, destroyed every remnant 
of my self-consciousness, and the designation of “ pearl- 
seller” made my blood boil. 

“ It is not true !” I declared. “ I did not sell you the 
pearls. You know well that I threw your thalers on the 
ground ! ’ 

Charlotte smiled, and came hastily towards me with 
sparkling eyes. 

“ Oh, how charming ! the child is proud !” she cried ; 
then stooping she stroked back my hair with her long, 
soft hand, much as one would stroke a pretty little 
poodle. “ What do you think of the astounding news, 
Dagobert?” she asked the young gentleman. “The 
mummy has human ties ; this pretty creature is a daugh- 
ter of Doctor von Sassen.” 

“ Impossible 1” And he recoiled in blank astonishment. 

“ Well, and what is there so amazing in that ?” Ilse 
interposed, dryly. “ Do you suppose that because the 
child has not such gay gear as that over her shoulders,” 
and she pointed to Charlotte’s jacket, “she cannot come 
of distinguished folk?” 

The young lady laughed elfishly ; the cutting reproof 
seemed to afford her intense amusement. 

“But what a figure you are, Lenore !” Ilse said, scold- 
ingly, to me. “You had better take off your shoes and 
stockings, too I” She put the ruffle around my neck, 
smoothed my hair with her hands, and tied on my hat. 
I looked timidly round at the circle of ladies. I had 
suddenly become perfectly aware of the ridiculous figure 
I presented beside them ; .they would surely laugh, — but 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


91 


not one smiled ; on the contrary, they looked on as seri- 
ously as if at the toilet of a genuine princess. Only upon 
Charlotte’s lips there flitted an irrepressible expression 
of merriment. 

“ Poor victim !” she said, in tones of profound compas- 
sion. “But how is it, then ; is the little moorland Prin- 
cess to stay with her papa ?” she added, gaily. 

“Of course,” Use replied, categorically. “ Whom else 
should she stay with ? May we beg to be allowed to 
proceed ? we are very tired. Is that the ‘ Karolinenlust,’ 
or whatever they call it, at last?” she asked, pointing to 
a faint white streak that glimmered through the trees and 
bushes. 

“ I will conduct you thither,” said the young gentle- 
man, very courteously. He was entirely transformed ; 
even his eyes, that had before looked continually and with 
undisguised amusement at Use’s unfortunate head-gear, 
were not allowed one mocking glance. 

My heart swelled within me. What a man my father 
must be when his mere name sufficed to obtain such re- 
spectful attention for Ilse and myself 1 The ladies retired, 
bidding us farewell, and, accompanied by the young gen- 
tleman, we crossed the open space and entered the yew 
grove. 


92 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


CHAPTER X. 

There was only a short path through the cool, green 
shade. I walked along it with a wildly-throbbing heart. 
Ilse strode on boldly, never turning round. But scarcely 
had the girlish forms vanished behind the trees when the 
young man hastily stooped, and, gazing full and archly 
into my eyes, asked, in a half-suppressed Voice, “ Is the 
little moorland Princess still angry with me ?” 

I shook my head. How strange that a few whispered 
words should so thrill one to the very core of one’s 
being 

Suddenly there lay before us the “ Karolinenlust.” I 
should not have been in the least surprised if Frau Holle 
had nodded to me from one of the lofty windows, and 
told me to shake up her feather-beds and sweep out her 
rooms. There was already a spell upon me, and the 
building before us was by no means calculated to break 
it and set me free. What did I know then of renaissance 
and baroque I No knowledge of the strict rules of art 
disturbed the enchantment around me. I only saw lines 
of beauty and grace cleaving the air as if moulded of 
wax, not of stone. I saw pillars, pilasters, and cornices 
wreathed together by lavish garlands of fruit and flowers, 
and from among them gleamed broad, mirror-like win- 
dows, — a rococo chateau loaded with ornament, as only 
such a building, in the taste of the last century, could be. 
It was reflected in the glassy water that lay at its feet, 
surrounded by a perforated stone railing. This pond 
and a green lawn, spreading from it like a fan, and 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


93 


adorned with white statues and stiff pyramids of yew, 
filled all the open space in front, which was surrounded 
by a broad, gravelled road, across which a deep woodland 
shade was thrown. Like a pearl in a green billow, the 
little castle lay embosomed in the forest that climbed the 
mountain in the background. As we emerged from the 
bushes, a silver pheasant hopped almost across our feet, 
and before the portico, in the cool shadow of the house, a 
peacock was strutting, spreading abroad his jewelled 
plumage, while an ash-coloured crane stood immovably 
upon one leg upon the brink of the pond, his bald, red 
head inclining forward upon his breast. He came gravely 
up to us, and danced about upon the tips of his toes with 
the most ridiculous air, as if he were master of ceremo- 
nies to the villa, — miracle upon miracle for my unaccus- 
tomed eyes ! 

In an open hall on the ground floor the porters put 
down our luggage ; they departed, and then we mounted 
a staircase. In the first story we passed by lofty doors, 
strangely enough closed and sealed up, — broad white 
strips of paper were pasted over the locks of the folding- 
doors, like a silencing finger upon two lips. 

We made a pause in the second story. The young 
gentleman opened a door and we entered, while he with 
a courteous inclination withdrew, closing the door noise 
lessly behind us. 

I was suddenly overcome with mortal trepidation. I 
had known well enough at home that my father did not 
want me, that I should be a burden to him, which he 
would gladly leave forever on the moor ; and the surprise 
at my existence that I everywhere encountered con- 
firmed my belief that he had never mentioned his child. 
And now here I stood in his room as importunate as it 
was possible to be, looking with scared -eyes into the 


94 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


world in which he lived and laboured. How strange 
and incomprehensible was everything that I beheld ! The 
walls of the spacious apartment in which we stood were 
lined with books from floor to ceiling, — as many books, I 
thought, as there were stalks of heather on the moor. 
There was only room for four tall windows, hung with 
green cloth curtains, and two doors. The door to the 
left was wide open into a second apartment, with a sky- 
light. The sunshine streamed dazzlingly down through 
a large, deep window in the ceiling, upon White extended 
limbs, — upon a fierce, menacing figure, wielding a huge 
club, and upon the images also of lovely women in soft, 
flowing robes. 

In one of the window-recesses of the back room stood 
a writing-table, at which a gentleman was sitting writing. 
He did not notice our entrance, for as we stood for a mo- 
ment motionless, just inside the door, we heard the con- 
tinual scratching of his pen, and it caused me a nervous 
shiver. I don’t know whether she felt the strangeness and 
novelty of the surroundings, or the same feeling that pos- 
sessed me, — fear of my father, — but Use, the decided, 
strong-minded Use, hesitated for a moment, and then 
resolutely took my hand and led me to the window. 

“ Good-day to you, Herr Doctor ; here we are !” To me 
that sonorous voice, although it trembled slightly, re- 
sounded like a thunderclap from the quiet walls. 

My father started from among his heaps of papers and 
stared at us ; then he sprang up as if electrified. 

“Use 1” he cried, in undisguised alarm. 

“Yes, Use, Herr Doctor,” she said, quietly. “And 
here is Lenore, your only child, who has not seen her 
father for fourteen years. It is a long time, Herr Doctor, 
and it would be no wonder if you should not recognize 
each other.” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. <J5 

He said not a word for a minute, but passed his hand 
repeatedly across his brow, as if in an effort to collect his 
thoughts and understand our presence there. He gently 
pushed back my hat and looked into my eyes, and I 
thought with an inward tremor that there certainly could 
not be many faces as thin and shrivelled as my father’s; 
still he had my grandmother’s fine eyes. 

“ And you are Lenore ?” he said, very gently kissing 
my forehead. “ She is small, Ilse, — smaller than my wife 
was, I think.” He sighed profoundly. “ How old is the 
child ?” 

“ Seventeen years, Herr Doctor; I wrote you so twice.” 

“ Ah, indeed 1” he said, again passing his hand across 
his brow, and then clasping his hands so tightly that the 
joints cracked ; he was the perfect picture of a man sud- 
denly awakened from a dream and confronted with prosaic 
reality. 

“You are tired, my child; forgive me for letting you 
stand so long,” he said to me, with extreme courtesy, 
after he had once walked rapidly to and fro. A large 
table, covered with books and papers, stood in the centre 
of the room; my father pushed towards us two of the 
arm-chairs that were placed around it. 

“ Be careful, my dear Ilse, let me entreat you !” he 
cried, hastily, as she thoughtlessly placed her knitting- 
basket upon a sheet of manuscript lying on the table. 
His thin hands trembled as he removed the basket, and 
no tender mother could examine the features of her invalid 
darling more eagerly than my father examined the ap- 
parently ancient paper after it had been relieved from the 
unaccustomed contact. 

I looked at Ilse ; her face was immovable. Evidently 
she knew my father’s eccentricities of old. 

“Come, rest yourself a little,” he said, when he saw 


96 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


that ] hesitated to sit down ; “ then we will go to tho 
hotel ” 

“ To the hotel, Herr Doctor ?” Ilse composedly asked. 
“ What should the child do at an inn ? It would cost 
you a pretty penny to keep her there for two years.” 

My father actually staggered backwards. “ Two 
years ? What are you talking about, Ilse ?” 

“ I am only saying what I have been writing to you 
for ten years; here we are, bag and baggage. Once for 
all, the child shall not run wild on the moor! Look at 
Lenore ! She can hardly read; as for her writing, — 
Lord have mercy on us ! — you should see what work she 
makes of it. She can climb trees, and peep into birds’ 
nests, but not a decent stitch can she sew, or knit a row 
upon a stocking; all I could do I never could teach her. 
And she runs from a stranger as from a dragon, with- 
out even a civil ‘good-day’ And this is Herr von 
Sassen’s only child ! Your wife would turn in her grave 
if she knew it.” 

It never occurred to my father to turn and scrutinize 
my small person at this description. 

“ Good heavens, all this may be perfectly true !” he 
cried, running both hands through his hair in desperation. 
“ But what under the sun, Ilse, can I do with the child?” 

Hitherto I had remained a silent auditor of what was 
said ; but now I rose. 

“ Oh, how terrible all this is !” I cried, my voice trem- 
bling with pain and grief. “ Do not be disturbed, father, 
you shall never see me again. I will go away this in- 
stant, and, if needs must, I will run back alone to the 
moor; Heinz is there, and he will surely be glad to see 
me. And I will be diligent, too, father, you may rely 
upon it, — I will knit and sew, — oh, you shall see I will not 
be a burden to you 1” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


97 


“ Be quiet, child,” said Use, rising hastily, her eyes 
brimming over. 

But I was held in a close embrace ; I was folded to my 
father’s heart. He took off my hat, threw it on the floor, 
and pressed my head lovingly to his breast. 

“No, no, my child, my poor little Lorchen, — I did not 
mean that!” he said, soothingly, much agitated. Strangely 
enough it seemed as if my words had first impressed him 
with the true state of the case. “You shall stay with 
me. Why, Ilse, the child has my wife’s voice ; it is just 
as sweet and clear. She shall stay with me; she shall 
not go back to the moor, — that is settled ! But, my dear 
Ilse, how is the matter to be arranged? This is not my 
home ; I am only a guest here for an uncertain period of 
time. Now, what is to be done ?” 

“ Let me manage all that, Herr Doctor,” Ilse replied, 
quite in her element once more. “I can easily stay away 
a week from the Dierkhof, even although Heinz should 
make a few blunders meanwhile. I will arrange every- 
thing. 4nd the child does not come quite empty-handed, 
either.” 

She took a paper from her basket and handed it to my 
father ; it was my grandmother’s last will. 

I raised my head from his breast and gave him her 
farewell messages of love. 

“She did not die insane, my poor mother?” he asked. 

“No,” said Ilse. “ She was as much herself as in her 
best days, and put her house in order before she left the 
world. Only read it. It was not written by a lawyer, 
but she thought you would respect her last will ” 

“ Of course ! of course !” He opened the paper and ran 
over the first lines. “That is as it should be, my dear 
Use, the Dierkhof belongs to you of right.” 

“ Do you really think so, Herr Doctor ? If I were in 

G 9 


98 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


vour place I should think, ‘Aha I Use stuck to the old 
Frau in hopes of getting that fine farm.’” 

“ I never thought of such a ” 

“ But I did. I shall not take the Dierkhof. With 
jour permission, it belongs to the child. She must have 
a refuge, a spot of her own to retire to if she is not con- 
tent in the great world. If I maj staj at the Dierkhof, 
and jou let me keep it in order as long as I live, that is 
quite enough. I would have torn that paper in pieces as 
soon as mj poor mistress closed her ejes, but I did nut 
dare to, for there is more written on it.” 

M j father read further. “ What ! was there still some 
property there, then ?” he said, in extreme surprise. “You 
alwajs wrote me that my mother lived solelj upon her 
annuity and the insignificant income of the Dierkhof.” 

“ And that was perfectly true, Herr Doctor. At first 
some extra sums came in now and then, but I know 
next to nothing of such matters, and as soon as madame 
stopped writing her own letters, not another groschen 
was received. The doctor explained to me that the little 
pieces of printed paper must be cut off and given up 
when you want the interest upon them.” 

“ Did you bring the papers with you ?” 

“ Yes,” she said, with sudden hesitation and reluctance. 

“ But, Herr Doctor, I must tell you that they are not to 
be expended immediately ; — like,” and she nodded signifi- 
cantly towards the adjoining apartment, “ the packages of 
money that madame used to send you from Hanover.” 

A flush rose to my father’s sunken cheeks, and he cast 
down his eyes as if he had been caught in some mischief. 

“ No, no !” he protested, eagerly. “ Do not be afraid, — . 
the money belongs to Lenore.” 

“And you will collect it correctly ? And punctually 
every quarter ” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


99 


“No, Use, that I cannot do!” he interrupted her in 
dismay. “ I cannot possibly have anything to do with 
money matters. I am so thoroughly occupied with my 
profession ” 

“ Oh, don’t take any trouble about it, — we will manage 
it all, Herr Doctor,” she said, not without a certain re- 
lief in her tone, as I could not help noticing. “And 
now, what is to be done ? We cannot stay in the large 
room in there. I see no wardrobe or closet ” 

“ I will take you down to my rooms, — only have 
patience for one little moment ! I merely want to put away 
my manuscript.” 

He went to his table, and, with his head bent thought- 
fully, began to turn over the papers upon it. He repeat- 
edly passed his hand across his brow, stroked his thin 
gray beard, and finally sank down slowly into the arm- 
chair, seized a pen and began to write. 

Ilse, meanwhile, went into the next apartment, and I 
followed her. I can appreciate now the figures that we 
presented in the antique cabinet, and the sensations with 
which I then regarded the objects of art, to. which, of 
course, I could give no name. They stood and lay about 
in utter confusion, awaiting fit arrangement, — so much 
was plain. There was a gleam of marble from chests 
packed with straw. Pompeian bronzes and antique terra 
cotta stood on tables ; half-broken clay ornaments with 
traces of colour, to which I paid no heed, lay on the floor, 
^lany things seemed broken or fragmentary. On top of a 
^closed chest lay a female figure without hands or feet. 
^What did I know of a torso ? 

“ Could all this be believed possible ?” Ilse murmured 
indignantly, almost angrily. “Nearly half the Jacob 
sohn property in such broken rubbish as this !” 

It was quite incomprehensible to me, too ; but sud 


100 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


denly I stood chained to the spot, and unconsciously 
there dawned within me the first dim perception of the 
wonders, the immense power of art. Leaning back 
against the trunk of a tree lay a boy, his left arm raised 
and embracing a broken bough, — his limbs pervaded 
by the gentle natural relaxation of coming slumber. I 
gazed motionless for a moment at his beautiful face, — the 
breath hovered upon the half-closed lips, the closing eye- 
lids trembled in half resistance to the sleep that was 
weighing them down, and in the drooping hand — thin 
but muscular — the veins were swollen beneath the yellow- 
ish skin, there was life in them, — a strange pulsing, — I 
recoiled. 

“ Don’t be afraid, child,” said Use. “ Though, to be 
sure, it is horrible enough! But just look at your 
father. I really believe he has clean forgot that we are 
here.” 

At this moment there was a knock at the door, my 
father did not hear it ; he continued to write. The knock 
was repeated, and Use replied to it by a loud and distinct 
“Come in!” Just as when we made our entrance, he 
looked up bewildered at the lackey in rich livery, who 
advanced respectfully towards the writing-table. 

“ His Highness the Duke sends his cordial regards to 
Herr von Sassen, and requests his presence this after- 
noon at five o’clock in the yellow chamber,” he said, with 
a profound reverence. 

“Ah, indeed, — indeed! I am always at his service !” 
my father replied, running his hands through his hair. 

The servant glided noiselessly from the room. 

“We are still here, Herr Doctor!” cried Ilse, seeing 
him about to go on writing. 

I could not help laughing to myself ; but a load seemed 
lifted from my breast. I began to understand my father 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


101 


Not from indifference or coldness of heart had he forgot- 
ten his mother and myself, — he simply lived in another 
world. I was sure of bis affection as long as distance 
did not intervene between us. My duty now was to over- 
come my wretched timidity and no longer to shrink a* 
the sound of my own voice. 

“ Father,” I said, almost as boldly as my model Use, 
pointing as I spoke to the sleeping child, whilst my 
father, rubbing his hands in almost ridiculous perplexity, 
came slowly towards us, “ pray don’t laugh at me ; but, 
indeed, that child must wake up, or take his arm from 
around that bough ; the blood is all running down into 
his hand.” 

“I laugh at you, my little Lorchen, because you have 
immediately discovered my pearl, my jewel 1” he cried, 
with evident delight, stroking the yellow marble even more 
tenderly than he had caressed my cheek. “ Yes, look 
well at it, child. It is a glorious work, — the artist was 
akin to the great Creator of all. And only one in the 
world, — only this one here. What a prize ! God only 
knows how the fellow came by it ! There are countless 
treasures hidden in the house where I found this price- 
less work, only the day before yesterday. In the cellars, 
underground, in dark corners and closets, where they 
have been thrust away, packed in chests, and forgotten 
for forty years at least, — a loss to science that cannot be 
excused! Oh, these tradesfolk !” 

All this did not sound at all as if he were speaking to 
me, the moorland child, who was just having a first dim 
glimpse of the realm of art and science ; but his manner 
of speech was far more intelligible than the long words 
of the Professor at the mound, and the unexpected treas 
uresof the “tradesman’s” house suddenly had for me tb- 

9 * 


10 ? 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


same charm that had invested the contents of the Hun's 
grave. 

Use gave me a side glance, as if to say, “There, she is 
beginning, too;" but she made no remark, pursuing her 
aim after her usual direct fashion. She pointed to her 
dusty shoes. 

“ My feet burn and ache," she said, “ and I should be 
very glad of a glass of cold water, Herr Doctor." 

He smiled, locked up his papers, and conducted us 
down to the lower story. As we passed by an open door 
we saw a pretty chamber-maid, in a white apron, dusting 
the furniture. 

“ Fraulein Fliedner has had two rooms opened and 
prepared for Friiulein von Sassen," she said, respectfully, 
to my father. I almost laughed in her face, — this same 
Friiulein von Sassen had taken a farewell trip barefooted 
across the moor the morning before. “ Herr Claudius 
has driven out to Dorotheenthal," she continued, “ aud 
Fraulein Fliedner does not know what arrangements he 
may desire when he returns ; but, in the mean while, she 
has seen that what is absolutely necessary is provided. 
I have laid two more covers at table, and the dinner is 
arranged for two more guests." 

My father thanked her and opened the door of his 
elegant drawing-room. 

Shall I tell of the miracle of the awakening of feminine 
instinct that was now manifest in the wild and wanton 
child, the miracle by which a thousand tender fibres 
stir in a girl’s heart as soon as loving duties devolve 
upon her ? My hands, that had been so often called 
“ awkward," peeled the potato that was then shyly laid 
upon my father’s plate ; I sprang up and drew the win- 
dow-curtain when a passing sunbeam annoyed him, and 
at the end of an , our, upon his return to his beloved 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS 103 

library, I called after him not to forget the Duke’s ap- 
pointment at five o’clock, and asked him whether I had 
not better come up to him at the time and remind him. 

He turned round in the doorway with beaming eyes. 

“I thank you, Use,” he cried; “you have brought 
back with my child the happy days when I had my little 
wife about me 1 Lorchen, come up for me at five o’clock 
punctually ! I am sometimes a little preoccupied, and I 
have even, on several occasions, utterly forgotten these 
invitations.” 

He left the room, and Ilse said, with an air of satisfac- 
tion, as she rolled up her jacket-sleeves above her elbows, 
“Now affairs will take care of themselves.” 


CHAPTER XL 

Adjoining my father’s rooms was the apartment which 
Fraulein Fliedner had appropriated to my use, and a 
sleeping-room opened into it, — this last formed the south- 
west corner of the house, and before its two windows 
hung heavy, although rather faded, yellow damask cur- 
tains. It contained a bed with a yellow silk quilt, and 
pillows freshly covered with fragrant linen, an elegant 
loilet-table draped with yellow, and in a recess in the 
wall there was a wardrobe with claw feet, and inlaid 
with coloured woods. 

“ We don’t need their bedding,” said Ilse, dragging 
across the threshold, in her strong, bare arms, the gigan- 
tic bundle, sewed in bagging, that we had brought with 
us. “ We have bedding of our own, and good bedding 
it is !” She took the fine pillows from the bedstead, eye* 


104 THE little moorland princess. 

ing their delicate cases scornfully the while. “ A nd is 
not that stupid ?” she suddenly exclaimed, surveying the 
little room with her arms akimbo. “As the bed is placed 
now, you will lie half in the draught from the window 
while the wardrobe stands in that sheltered recess. Here, 
take hold, child, — this must be moved.” 

We pushed the wardrobe aside. Use clasped her 
hands in dismay. “ Gracious goodness ! silk hangings be- 
fore the windows, and cobwebs as thick as your finger 
behind the wardrobes, and dust an inch deep, — fine 
housekeeping !” 

I thought of the boxes and chests that had been packed 
away and forgotten for forty years. Certainly it must 
have been quite as long since the spiders in this corner 
had been disturbed. But besides the layers of dust and 
the many-legged spinners, a small door was revealed. 
Ilse opened it without hesitation, and discovered a steep, 
narrow staircase leading to the upper story. 

“ There was reason in the wardrobe’s standing where 
it did,” said Ilse, as she closed the door again. “ It must 
be put back in the same place.” 

* She went out to look for a brush and dust-pan. 

I softly reopened the door. Who lived up there ? That 
handsome Charlotte, perhaps ? Step by step I ascended. 
Suddenly, just to the right, I saw daylight through the 
crack of a door corresponding to the one below. Noise- 
lessly, as I thought, I opened it, — dear me, there was a 
loud rustling, — and the hinges creaked as if they had 
not been oiled for a score of years ! I snatched my hand 
from the door-handle, and was within a hair’s breadth of 
falling down-stairs in my terror. The door slowly swung 
open, — there was no one in the room, — a black silk robe 
had been partly hanging over the door-handle, and had 
caused the rustle that had so startled me. 


T1IE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


105 


The rosy dawn of morning, as I had often welcomed 
it upon the moor, seemed to flush all the walls of this 
room, which were covered with thickly-plaited pink gauze ; 
bunches of roses were strewed on the soft, gray ground 
of the carpet, — were embroidered upon the small, armless 
chairs, — and covered the closely-drawn curtains where, it 
is true, they were only the ghosts of roses, the sun had 
so bleached them. Near one window stood a toilet-table 
covered with silver toilet articles ; except which and the 
chairs, there was no other furniture in the room. 

I entered cautiously. Pah 1 it could not have been 
swept here for a long time. “ Pretty housekeeping l” 
Use would have said again. One of the folding-doors to 
my left was open, and my glance lighted upon two beds 
standing side by side beneath a dark violet canopy. Be- 
side one of the beds upon a simple stand stood a large 
wicker-basket full of little cushions, over which a green 
veil was thrown. Strange, who could be living here? 
Silence, profound and ghostly, reigned in the darkened 
room ; not only were the shades drawn down, but the 
curtains were also drawn close, and everything looked in 
disuse. Oh, now I know 1 The family to whom all this 
belonged were travelling ! For an instant my conscience, 
untrained as it was, pricked me. What right had my 
small, prying person here ? But, oh 1 it was so delightful, 
t his stolen glimpse of all the strange splendour 1 Certainly 
I was at Frau Holle’s, in her castle full of silk and velvet 
and silver and gold. There was dust enough to be swept 
up, and plenty of beds to be shaken, too. And I was 
wandering alone through her halls and chambers — en- 
tirely alone ! But I was not in the least afraid. Even 
if she were really sitting in the next room, — Frau Holle 
in her high-backed chair, with her long teeth and palsied 
head, — I would go boldly up to her and courtesy. There 


i 06 TI1F LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 

needed no great courage for that, — none at all ; but — I 
suddenly screamed so that the high walls echoed, and 
clasped my hands over my eyes. I had pushed open the 
door. I was no longer alone, Frau Holle was not sitting 
there, — a little black creature came towards me from the 
opposite door. 

My heart throbbed wildly as I awaited the stranger’s 
approach ; I thought she would pull down my hands 
from my face and question me ; but silence still reigned, 
there was no sound of footsteps on the floor, and I did 
not hear the door shut again. With a resolute gesture, 
I put a stop to the desperate uncertainty; I looked up. 
The black figure still stood upon the opposite threshold ; 
she slowly took down a couple of brown hands from her 
face, and then tossed back a mass of dark elf-locks from 
her forehead, — why, that was just what I was doing ray- 
self ! I laughed aloud. The opposite wall was one tall 
mirror, reaching from floor to ceiling: it well might won- 
der at the strange little figure it reflected ! I shook my 
curls with another laugh, and entered the room. 

It extended the entire depth of the house, and in the 
walls fronting south and north there were three tall glass 
doors leading out into the open air. They were hung 
with blue silk, but the curtains on the south side had 
faded to a dirty grayish-white. Life breathed upon me 
here from all sides. Little hovering, chubby-cheeked 
boys, supporting medallions in their hands, laughed 
roguishly at me from the walls, and on the ceiling a group 
of lovely female forms were showering down flowers. 
There was an immense quantity of rich gilt arabesque 
interspersed among and around the gay frescos. The 
furniture was white-and-gold, covered with blue silk. 

It had been a state apartment, but it was evidently 
used as a cosy drawing-room. The furniture was scat> 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


10T 


tered about so as to give an air of comfort to the whole, 
and in the light of the centre-door upon the north side 
stood a large writing-table. It was covered with por- 
celain figures and a quantity of pretty articles, of the 
use of which I was utterly ignorant. There was a silver 
inkstand formed of a number of leaves artistically thrown 
together from which the inkstand and sand-box peeped 
in the shape of rosebuds. Upon one of the leaves was 
engraved a coat-of-arms, surmounted by a crown; and 
the same insignia were engraved upon the loose sheets 
of paper lying in front of the inkstand. Evidently a 
feminine hand had been busy here trying a pen. “ Sidonie, 
Princess of K.,” was written repeatedly, now and then 
interspersed with the names “ Claudius” and “Lothar.” 

I started back. What! were these then royal apart- 
ments ? A princess had been sitting at this table and 
writing with the gold pen-handle so carelessly thrown 
aside ! Her little feet had glided over the polished 
floor where I was now standing, and her delicate, re- 
fined face had looked out of those glass doors ! I was 
overcome by timidity again, and without daring to 
turn the handle of the next door, I peeped through the 
key-hole, and saw outside, the broad, winding staircase 
up which Use and I had been conducted not long before 
by the young gentleman. Ah, I was standing behind 
one of the doors upon which I had seen the large seal ! 
The princess had been obliged to secure her apartments 
flora all intrusion during her absence by placing seals 
upon the doors. And it had not sufficed: I was here 
looking with prying eyes at everything that should have 
been safe from the glance of a stranger. But my con- 
science did not then reproach me. I snatched a fearful 
joy, on the contrary, from the thought that the doors 
were all sealed up, that no living creature, except perhaps 


108 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


an impertinent fly creeping through the key-hole, could 
enter here, save only myself alone ! 

And now I wished to see what had greeted the princess’s 
eyes when she looked through the glass doors. I pushed 
one of the curtains a little aside, and discovered a bal- 
cony upon which the door opened, — a beautiful little 
room without any roof. I had never seen a balcony 
before. How delightful to step out of the warm room 
into the open air so high above the earth ! 

Perhaps there was a glimpse of the country to be had 
from this balcony through some gap in the trees. I was 
bold and reckless enough to turn the key and open the 
door a little way; the sultry summer air breathed into 
the room, bringing with it delicious odours from the gar- 
dens. I put out my head for one moment. Heavens ! 
there was Ilse coming from the shrubbery below, with a 
long broom over her shoulder. I closed the door, ran like 
one possessed through the rooms, and slipped down the 
stairs. I had just closed the little door behind me, and 
seated myself with as innocent an air as I could assume, 
when Ilse entered. 

“ I actually had to run back to the yard for this 
broom !” she said. “ The house here seems like an en- 
chanted castle, the doors locked in all directions, and 
never a human being to be seen. And I had my own 
troubles, too! The chambermaid would scarcely let me 
have the broom from sheer respect. I got angry. This 
miserable Sunday bonnet, — I never want to put it on 
again !” 

She carefully removed all the dust, turned the key 
twice in the lock of the door, and replaced the wardrobe 
in its old spot. Then she unsewed my bedding and piled 
up the huge feather-beds on the carved bedstead Oh, 
how insolently the red-and-white checked coverlet paraded 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 109 

itself beside the yellow silk damask, and how timidly 
the fine linen pillow-cases shrank up beside my sheet- 
ing, in which at quite a distance I could count the 
threads ! 

But Use contemplated the work of her hands with 
immense satisfaction; it was stout and strong, — no one 
could deny that. 

“Early to-morrow we will go to the other house, ” 
she said to me, as she took a fresh white ruffle out of 
the trunk and laid it on the toilet-table. “From what 
your father said to-day, they seem to be sensible people 
there.” 

What did she mean ? My father had only referred 
indignantly to the neglected chests, and called these 
sensible people “tradesfolk.” 

“ Perhaps I can speak to the gentleman himself about 
you,” she added. 

“No, no, Use 1 — do not, for Heaven’s sake 1” I cried. 
“ If you do, I will run away, and you shall never, never 
see nm again !” 

Sbo opened her eyes wide. “Are you quite right 
here?” she asked, tapping her forehead significantly with 
her forefinger. 

“ Think what you please ; but I will not allow you to 
say one word about me to the young gentleman.” 

“ What ! that young dandy ? That jointed doll of a 
man who plays with little hoops ? I never thought of 
him !” 

I felt my face flush. Indignation, pain, and shame 
pierced my heart like knives. Indeed, Use was some- 
times too cross and inconsiderate. 

“I mean the gentleman who called after us yesterday 
in the yard,” she continued. 

“ Oh, that one 1” I said ; “you may speak with him an 
10 


no the little moorland princess . 

much as you please for all I care, — he is old, old as the 
bills !” 

“ And these are really the people who were on the 
moor four weeks ago V* 

I nodded assent. 

“ And the old one gave you those unlucky thalers ?” 

“Yes, Use.’’ 

I went to the window and looked out. I was on the 
point of making myself very ridiculous, — tears filled my 
eyes. Use knew well that I could not help crying when 
she was cross to Heinz ; but that was entirely different; 
I had loved him since I was a baby, — but what had I 
to do with the young stranger ? What in the world was 
it to me if Use chose to call him a dandy and a jointed 
doll ? It was too silly, and yet this abuse irritated me 
unaccountably, — much more than when Use scolded my 
good old Heinz 


CHAPTER XII. 

How strangely I felt when I awoke the next morning 1 
The novel impressions of the day before had transformed 
me for the time. I had gone to sleep in a kind of intoxi- 
cation ; now that the light of day shone bright and clear, 
and I was restored by rest to my old self, I was once 
again the timid little lizard, ready to hide away in any 
dark corner from human eyes. 

In the midst of my rather depressing meditations, a 
Jittle bird chirped and twittered consolingly He must 
have been sitting outside upon the window-sill, and I 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


Ill 


imagined in my melancholy that he had come directly 
from the moor, from the southernwood-tree by the wall 
of the Dierkhof. But the silence of the early morning 
was, to my surprise, broken by other sounds. Behind 
the wall against which the wardrobe stood, a deep, 
melodious voice suddenly sang, in long-drawn tones, 
a verse of a hymn. Just then the door of my room 
opened, and Use stood listening on the threshold. She 
nodded a silent good-morning to me, and remained still 
with folded arms. 

“ A pious man 1” she said, much edified, as she came to 
my bedside at the conclusion of the verse. “ There are 
other people living in the house beside your father, then. 
Yesterday the whole place seemed to me so heathenish 
and uncanny ” 

She stopped, for the voice began a second verse : the 
lovely trilling on the window-sill had ceased, — the little 
singer had been scared away by the first notes of the 
powerful voice. 

“ There, now get up, child !” said Use, after she had 
devoutly listened to the second verse. “Such a neighbour 
is more to me than if I had found a treasure ! That was 
a beautiful morning prayer! Now for the duties of 
the day !” 

And she drew up the shades and left the room. 

I sprang out of bed. Without, golden sparks were 
gleaming and dancing on the surface of the little lake. 
The trees and bushes were dripping with glittering dew, 
and peacocks and golden pheasants were walking about 
on the velvet grass. 

Whilst I was dressing, the voice in the next room sang 
on without stop or stay. 

“ Whoever pays for that, gets his money’s worth 1” Use 
exclaimed, looking into the room with a frown of im* 


112 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


patience contracting her light eyebrows, as, after the sixth 
verse, the voice began a seventh. “Our Lord must be 
wearied out with all that singing. It is not what Ha 
made the precious fresh morning for !” 

She had certainly not been idle. She had opened one 
of the kitchens, and in spite of all offers of service from 
the maid, had prepared the breakfast herself. Use “ could 
not possibly drink strange coffee. ” The room was swept 
and dusted ; the bed that she had made up for herself 
upon a sofa was cleared away, and the breakfast-service, 
sent for our use by Fraulein Fliedner, was neatly arranged 
npon the table. 

I knocked timidly at the door of my father’s room. 

“Come in, little Lorchen !” he called from within 
Thank God, he knew that I was there 1 I should not 
have to present myself afresh. He took my hand and 
drew me into the room, excusing himself as he kissed my 
forehead for leaving us so much alone the day before, — 
he had been obliged to stay with the Duke until eleven 
o’clock. Ilse informed him that she would take counsel 
with Fraulein Fliedner as to what had better be done 
with me at first, and to this he agreed perfectly. Frau- 
lein Fliedner was a most worthy and estimable lady, 
he should be very glad to have her interest herself in 
his little daughter, — he would shortly pay her a visit 
himself and request her to do so. But not to-day; 
he had too much to attend to, and every moment was 
precious. 

He was not nearly so absent-minded as at his writing- 
table in the library, and although he addressed me several 
times by my mother’s name, and inquired again how old 
I was, I was glad to feel assured that he was entirely 
reconciled to the thought that his daughter was to live 
with him. He held ny hand clasped in his own, and I 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. J 13 

accompanied him to the door of the library, where he 
alvva} T s took his coffee. 

In the hall we passed a tall old gentleman. His hair 
was snowy and his cravat as white, while his black coat 
shone like satin in the morning sun. He took off his hat 
and bowed profoundly, but in a stiff, measured manner, 
while his light-blue eyes glanced with arrogant distaste at 
my father’s neglected toilet. 

“ Who is that ?” I softly asked, as he passed quickly, 
but with immense dignity, around the pond. His unex- 
pected appearance had produced a most unpleasant im 
pression upon me. 

“ The old bookkeeper of the firm of Claudius,” said my 
father. “ He is your neighbour ; did you not hear him 
singing this morning ?” A sarcastic smile hovered upon 
his thin lips as he looked after the zealous hymn-singer, 
who was just disappearing among the bushes. 

Two hours later I pursued the same path by Use’s side, 
upon our way to the other house. Use carried the tin 
box, with my grandmother’s papers, beneath her black 
shawl. She had completed her travelling costume by the 
addition of a pair of dark cotton gloves, and looked quite 
imposing. 

To-day the open gravel sweep was deserted, but the 
garden was full of people. Wheelbarrows creaked along 
the paths; men in the dress of labourers wandered about 
among the beds, plucking flowers, and arranging them in 
bouquets, and from behind espaliers and hedges of roses, 
many a glance of amazement followed us. 

As we approached the large greenhouse, the old book- 
keeper issued from it. He was without his hat ; his rev- 
erend white hair actually gleamed in the sunlight. He 
was talking with the young gentleman beside him, who 
was apparently attired for walking. They did not notice 
H 10* 


1.14 TUE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 

as, although we walked directly behind them, on the broad 
path leading towards the door in the wall of the yard. 

“ You are a couple of hot-heads, — yourself and your 
sister; you would soar high,” said the old bookkeeper. 

“ Do you blame us for that?” 

. “ And the nest in which you were fledged does not suit 
you now. I have seen that for some time,” continued he 
of the silvery locks, without noticing the other’s remark, 
lie had a deep, agreeable voice in speaking, but his 
words were uttered with grave deliberation and emphasis, 
as if he prized them himself exceedingly. 

“ I will not exactly grant that,” the other replied, with 
a shrug; “ but there need not be so much here that is 
humiliating for Charlotte and myself, and that, especially 
in the career that I have chosen, drags upon me like lead. 
Jf my uncle could only make up his mind to give up this 
shop 1” 

With the slender cane that he held he struck at a mag- 
nificent crimson carnation hanging over the gravel-walk, — . 
struck it such a blow that the gorgeous flower flew far 
across the path. I uttered a low cry, and involuntarily 
raised both hands to my neck as if it had felt the shock. 

The speakers turned around. My frightened face, and 
still more, the gesture that I made, caused a contemptuous 
smile upon the face of the young man. 

“ Aha! the little moorland Princess can be sentimental, 
then ?” he cried, lifting his hat courteously from his 
chestnut curls. “ Of course, I am a Yandal, a barbarian, 
and Heaven only knows what beside. My sentence has 
gone forth,” he continued, with a side-glance at me. 
“ There is now nothing left for me to do but to duly 
honour the flower.” 

He picked up the carnation and stuck it in his button- 
hole 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


115 


“ That will not make the poor thing fresh again,” said 
Use, dryly, as she passed him. 

He laughed. 

*' Is not your name Ilse ?” he asked, archly. 

“At your service, yes. Ilse Wichel, if you please,” 
uhe replied, turning towards him. Her words had a sharp 
intonation, as if her tongue had been slightly tipped with 
gall ; but what would have been her reply if she. had 
known that, upon the moor, the name of Ilse had been 
suggestive to him of the image of a dragon 1 

It was utterly incomprehensible to me how she had the 
courage to look just as fairly and indifferently into tkoso 
brown eyes, as if they had belonged to any ragged broom- 
making boy whom she was dismissing from the Dierkhof 
with a scolding and a piece of bread. Yes, Ilse was as 
brave as a lion ; no one was equal to her ; least of all I, 
for my coward heart throbbed so violently that I thought 
the old bookkeeper must hear it, and in consequence scru- 
tinize me from head to foot. 

I think the young man wished to tell his companion 
who I was, but Ilse would not stop ; she nodded, and 
turned away, of course taking me with her. 

The gentlemen came on slowly behind us. “ There is 
a carriage coming round the corner,” the young man 
said, suddenly. “ Yes, yes, those are the horses ! Uncle 
Erich has returned from Dorotheenthal !” 

They quickened their pace and entered the courtyard 
before us, just as the elegant carriage thundered through 
the gate. The old gentleman in blue spectacles was sit- 
ting inside. He looked just as he had done upon the 
moor, only he sprang from the vehicle with far more 
agile grace than I should have given him credit for, in 
view of his sedate carriage and his age. 

“ Good-morning, my dear uncle,” said the young man. 


116 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


•‘Are you back again, Uncle Erich?” Charlotte called 
down from an open window. 

The old gentleman waved a greeting to the window 
and shook hands with his nephew and the bookkeeper. 
We passed them, but no one noticed us, for a tall, mus- 
cular man, with a wallet upon his back, had entered the 
yard with the carriage, and now held out his hat to beg. 

I saw the young gentleman take out his purse ; but. 
just as he was about to throw a large piece of silver into 
the hat, his uncle stayed his lavish hand. 

“ What is your trade ?” he asked the beggar. 

“ I am a carpenter ” 

tl Have you looked for work here in the city ?” 

“ Yes, indeed, sir, everywhere ; but I can find none, 
none at all. God knows I would gladly get some ! I am 
worn out with travelling about for it !” 

“ Aha! then come here at once ; I have plenty of work 
for you,” — he pointed to the piles of chests, — “ and I 
will pay you well.” 

The man scratched his head stupidly. 

“ Well, yes, yes, sir ; but I must first go to the tavern,” 
he stammered. 

“Then go,” the old gentleman briefly answered, and 
turned away. 

“ There’s a man who understands matters !” said Ilse, 
admiringly, as we ascended the steps of the hall ; but I 
was enraged. The beggar looked so ragged and forlorn, 
and how roughly and shortly he had been dismissed i 
My heart ached to see the poor man bend his broad back 
so humbly before the rich, haughty merchant. The young 
gentleman had been far more generous and compassionate ; 
he had taken out his purse without a single question. If 
the carpenter never came back I could not blame him. Who 
could bear to be glared at by those ugly blue spectacles ? 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 117 

Charlotte had seen us go through the yard. She came 
down-stairs and greeted us in the hall. I could not take 
my eyes off her. A little cap of lace, fine and transparent 
as a cobweb, was thrown negligently upon her glossy 
dark hair, setting off to great advantage the oval of her 
face, which was very beautiful, although, perhaps, rather 
full for so young a person ; a light morning robe hung 
in loose folds about her tall figure, only confined at the 
waist, which was finely turned, but by no means slim, by 
a narrow belt. 

“ Has the little moorland Princess come to see me V 9 
she asked, kindly, taking my hand. 

“ She will come after awhile to you, Fraulein ; but we 
must speak first to Fraulein Fliedner,” said Ilse. She, 
too, looked with pleasure at the beautiful girl. Yes, Ilse 
was sure to admire what was tall and strong ; she always 
accredited a fine head and broad shoulders with her 
own strength of character. Between such stalwart figures 
I seemed to myself as insignificant as a floating piece of 
thistledown between two oaks. 

Charlotte shook her head with a laugh at Use’s straight- 
forward reply, and opened a door. Thank Heaven, the 
lady who arose upon our entrance from the windowed 
recess where she was sitting was not nearly so tall as 
my two conductors. In her silk gown and white cap, 
with the gold watch-chain at her belt, Fraulein Fliedner 
looked as attractive and refined as upon the previous day. 
She came towards us with a kindly smile. 

I sank down beside Ilse among the chintz-covered cush- 
ions of an old-fashioned sofa, while Charlotte threw herself 
into an arm-chair, picking up by the nape of his neck the 
barking poodle, who tried to bite a piece out of my costly 
gown, and scolding him into silence in her lap. 

Without further preliminaries, Ilse, in the briefest man 


118 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


ner, described my life hitherto. My nonsense-filled head, 
my brown hands that would not knit, and my unconquer- 
able predilection for running barefooted, were the fearful 
features of the picture which two years of culture it was 
hoped would obliterate. I sat as quiet as a lamb, looking 
across the room, through the glass doors of a cabinet, at 
an ugly porcelain figure that seemed to nod a silent " Yes, 
yes, we must alter all that!” to Use’s earnest discourse. 
Then I counted the endless bunches of keys upon the 
wall. Heavens ! could Friiulein Fliedner’s little head 
keep count of all those large and small keys and know 
where each one fitted ? I felt a secret horror of the house 
where so much lay behind lock and key. Oh, for my 
dear old Dierkhof, with its single large key, that was 
often not even turned in the house-door at night ! 

"It will give me pleasure, great pleasure, to take the 
little Friiulein von Sassen under my wing,” said the old 
lady, as Ilse finished, and placed the tin box of papers 
upon the table. "But there is much, particularly with 
regard to these money matters, that must be taken into 
grave consideration. In “my humble opinion, you had 
better ask Herr Claudius for his advice ” 

"Not to-day, for Heaven’s sake, my dear Fliedner!” 
Charlotte interrupted her, hastily. " Uncle Erich has his 
labour fever worse than ever ; he came very near pressing 
a poor carpenter into the service just now, but the man 
was cunning enough to escape. He is quite likely to 
shut the poor thing up in his back office, and keep her 
weaving funeral wreaths out of withered flowers for the 
rest of her life !” 

I looked in her face, transfixed with terror. 

" Yes, yes, you may well look at me, little one !” she 
said, regarding her beautiful, long white fingers. " I 
assure you I literally tremble for these ten poor things, 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


11 ? 


lest they should be appropriated some fine day and shut 
up in that back office.” 

Use’s face grew dolefully long. With all her apparent 
harshness, she loved me far too much to endure the 
thought of leaving me in the city to be miserable. Yes, 
she painted my ignorance and awkwardness in the 
blackest colours, but she admitted that she herself 
was greatly to blame. She had never had sufficient 
resolution to force me to work or to restrain my way- 
ward wanderings. 

“ Do not be afraid,” Fraulein Fliedner said to her with 
a smile. “ Fraulein Claudius is sometimes fond of exag- 
gerating. Herr Claudius is strict, but not unkind. You 
had better talk with him.” 

“ Well, if you think so,” said Use, evidently relieved. 
‘‘I do not know why, but I feel confidence in the man. 
I have not even seen his face, for he stood with his back 
towards me in the yard ; but the child met him four 
weeks ago on the moor, and she says he is old, as old as 
•the hills, so he must at least have experience of the 
world.” 

Charlotte burst into a laugh. 

“ Uncle Erich will be vastly obliged to you, most illus- 
trious moorland Princess !” she cried. And even Fraulein 
Fliedner looked at me with an amused air. 

“ Take your box and come with me,” the latter said to 
Use. Fraulein Fliedner put a mantilla over her shoul- 
ders, settled the white cuffs at her wrists and passed her 
hands over her faultlessly smooth hair. 

“I must come, too!” cried Charlotte, springing up and 
tossing the poodle into his cushion-lined basket. 

“ In your morning dress ?” Fraulein Fliedner asked, 
in surprise. 

“ What of it ? — is it not fresh and pretty ?” said Char- 


120 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


lotte, lightly stepping to the mirror and drawing her little 
cap farther over her forehead. 

The old lady shrugged her shoulders and led us out 
into the darkened hall, at the farther end of which she 
noiselessly opened a door. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

I longed tc turn upon the threshold and run into the 
yard to convince myself that a July sun was actually 
shining in the cloudless morning skies. Oh, how cold 
and gloomy it was behind these grated windows! The 
white front of a house on the other side of the street 
could, it is true, be seen from them, but its light surface 
threw out in stronger contrast the shadows upon the 
arched stone ceiling and brown leather hangings. With 
every breath we inhaled a dull, thick atmosphere, in 
which all the flowers in the world seemed to have per- 
ished and been dried. 

At a long table stood the old bookkeeper. He had 
drawn gray linen sleeves over his arms, and was busy 
sorting a mass of little paper packages. Several other 
men were engaged in like manner around him. 

“ Good-morning, Herr Eckhof,” said Charlotte, extend- 
ing her hand to him after a “Hail-fellow well met!” 
fashion, as one student would greet another. He replied 
kindly, but bowed as stiffly and coldly to Fraulein 
Eliedner as to my father. 

We passed through the large hall-like room and en- 
tered the one adjoining. There was only one gentleman 
here, although severel desks were ranged against the 

wall. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


121 


The gentleman was sitting so that he could oversee 
the whole room as well as the door by which we en- 
tered. As we presented ourselves, he looked up, and 
then rising in some astonishment, as it seemed, left the 
platform by the window, where his writing-table stood, 
llis face was oval, noble, and rather pale. 

Charlotte hastened up to him in advance of us. 

“ In your breakfast-cap still, Charlotte ?” he asked ; 
and a flashing pair of dark-blue eyes looked surprise. 
The charming colour in her cheeks flushed her whole 
forehead to the roots of her hair. 

“ Oh, uncle, you are entirely alone, ” she said, in 
a tone of excuse, as she gave one swift glance around 
the room. “ Forget your rules for this once ; I want 
to be here while you make a most interesting acquaint- 
ance.” 

I had retired behind Ilse. “ That is not the gentleman 
who gave me the thalers,” I whispered, eagerly. 

Charlotte’s shaip ears overheard my words. 

“Uncle,” she said, with one of her elfish laughs, “four 
weeks ago a young lady saw you on the Liineberg moor, 
and now she wishes to speak to the Herr Claudius, who 
is old, as old as the hills ” 

“ What difference can it make whether the gentleman 
is the one whom the child saw or not ?” Ilse struck in 
in her resolute way: “ I wish to speak to Herr Claudius. 
Are you he ?” 

He bowed with a very slight smile ; and then Ilse 
began her discourse afresh. She must have committed 
it to memory, for it flowed on without let or hindrance, 
exactly as it had a few moments before in Fraulein 
Fliedner’s room. 

Meanwhile I stood behind the ladies and observed the 
gentleman more attentively. He had the tall, manly 

11 


122 


T1IE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


figure of the man in the brown hat, but the head could 
not be the same. Above the smooth, broad brow lay a 
mass of waving, curling hair of the lightest blonde, so 
blonde that in the full light of the window it had an in- 
tense silvery brightness. This colour was very striking in 
contrast with the dark eyebrows that, arching boldly 
above the blue eyes, gave the pale, refined face an ex- 
pression of great force. I saw a slight scowl appear 
between them. Use’s application was evidently unwel- 
come ; he had not the least desire to burden himself with 
the matter. Now and then he glanced towards the open 
folio upon his desk. It was easy to see that he disliked 
the interruption, although he courteously endeavoured to 
appear attentive. 

“ I can only advise you,” he said, coldly, when Use 
paused to take breath, “ to send the young lady to board- 
ing-school as soon as possible ” 

“No, uncle,” Charlotte interrupted him; “it would be 
cruel to shut up the young, shy, little thing, who has 
hitherto enjoyed the most unbounded liberty, in one of 
those machines, — those model establishments. Life in a 
boarding-school is detestable.” 

“ Detestable, Charlotte !” he repeated, surprised. “And 
you have spent almost all your life until lately at a board- 
ing-school ! Why did you not complain?” 

She shrugged her shoulders. “ What should I have 
gained by doing so ?” she replied, with a shade of bitter- 
uess. 

He looked at her keenly and sternly, but said nothing. 
Just then the door opened and the old bookkeeper en- 
tered, followed by a tall and extremely handsome young 
man, who shrank back when he saw the ladies, and 
would have withdrawn. 

“ Come in, come in 1” cried Herr Claudius. Ha 


T'Ufc LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


123 


frowned slightly, and taking out his watch held it up 
before the stranger. 

“ It is very late, Herr Helldorf,” he said, coldly. 

Charlotte had returned the young man’s salutation by 
a courteous and indifferent inclination of her head ; but 
at these words of her uncle’s she grew crimson. 

“Excuse me, Herr Claudius; one of my brother’s 
children was taken violently ill a few hours ago,” said 
the young man, with a slight tremor in his voice, as he 
seated himself at his desk. 

“ I am very sorry to hear it. Is it dangerously ill ?” 

“ Not now ; thank God, the danger is past !” 

Herr Claudius turned again to Use. “ Indeed, I do 
not see of what use I can be in this matter,” he said. 
“ One can hardly expect Herr von Sassen, occupied as he 
is, and in view of his whole manner of life, to take 
charge of the education of a young girl who, as you say 
yourself, has been neglected ” 

“I would gladly undertake that charge,” Fraulein 
Fliedner interrupted him. 

“And so would I,” said Charlotte, hastily. 

“ The principal question is concerning the manage- 
ment of the small property inherited by Fraulein von 
Sassen from her grandmother,” the elder lady added. 

“ That, I should imagine, could be deposited in her 
father’s hands.” 

“ He absolutely refused to take care of it,” Use said, 

quickly; “ and I am very glad of it, because ” She 

stopped for a moment in search of some fitting expres- 
sion for her thoughts. “Well, because of the broken 
images and crockery lhat he is always buying,” she 
added, with decision. 

She put the tin box upon the table and unlocked it 
Herr Claudius looked over the documents it contained. 


124 


THE LITTLE, MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ There are a great many old coupons here,” he said ; 
“ but the papers are good. Shall I, then, take charge of 
the money ? Do you wish the interest added to the 
principal ?” 

“ Oh, yes, — pray save as much of it as you can,” Use 
replied. “ Indeed, the Herr Doctor is very apt to forget, 
and it will be well for the child to have a little something 
of her own.” 

“ Where is the young lady ?” 

“Come forward, and let yourself be seen,” said Char- 
lotte to me. Before I knew what she was about, she 
had taken off my hat, smoothed my tumbled locks, and 
pushed me forward by my shoulders, like a child forced 
to repeat the birthday verse she has learned by rote. But 
this time I was perfectly unembarrassed. I was not in 
the least shy before this man with his dry, composed, 
business-like air. I looked up at him as frankly as at 
the old gentleman on the moor. I believe I should 
have had quite enough courage to contradict him if 
he had begun about his funeral wreaths and withered 
flowers. 

At the moment when our eyes met, I saw in his, recog- 
nition ; he was the gentleman of the blue spectacles, 
after all. 

“Aha! this is she, then! — the strange little girl who 
had never seen money 1” he said, in astonishment. 

••'Yes, uncle, the little moorland Princess, as Dagobert 
calls her — the little, untamed moorland lark — who threw 
your money on the ground, and is not to be clapped into a 
cage without a word of remonstrance !” cried Charlotte, 
laughing. “ Come, little one, make your courtesy to the 
old gentleman.” 

A faint crimson flushed Herr Claudius’s cheeks. 

“No jesting, Charlotte,” he said, as seriously as he 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


125 


had reproved Dagobert in the matter of my unfortunate 
shoes. 

“Are you satisfied to have this money deposited in my 
hands ?” he asked me, kindly. 

It seemed so odd to be asked for the first time in my 
life about the disposition of anything, that I laughed 
“ Does it really belong to me, then ?” I inquired. 

“Why, of course; to whom else should it belong ?” 
Use said, sharply. 

“ Does it belong to me, like my hand or my eyes ? 
Can I do with it whatever I choose ?” I persisted, almost 
breathless with eager expectation. 

“No; at present you have not such entire control of 
it,” said Herr Claudius. His voice was now as soft and 
gentle as it had been upon the moor. “You are still 
much too young. If I take charge of these papers as 
your guardian, you will have to give me an account of 
every sum that you receive of me.” 

“ Oh, then, I don’t care,” I said, cast down and sad. 

“Have you any special desire?” He bent down and 
looked at me inquiringly. 

“Yes, Herr Claudius’ ; but I would rather not tell of it, 
— you would not gratify it.” 

“ Indeed ! — hm, — whence do you draw that conclu- 
sion ?” 

“ Because a little while ago I saw you send away that 
poor carpenter without giving him anything,” I boldly 
replied. 

“Aha! then you wish to give it away?” He was 
entirely unmoved. My indirect reproach had made not 
the slightest impression upon him. 

“But what is the child thinking of?” Use cried in 
amazement. “Whom would you give it to, child ? You 
don’t know anybody in the world !” 

11 * 


126 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“Use, you know,” I said, imploringly; “you know 
very well who it is that wants it, and is counting the 
hours perhaps till money can reach her from Hanover.” 

“Now, Lenore, if you come to me with that, I have 
done,” she interrupted me. I had never seen her so 
angry. “ Once for all, she shall not have a single 
groschen I” 

“Then keep your money !” I cried, vehemently, while 
the tears rushed to my eyes. “I will never touch a 
groschen of it either, — never: you may rely upon that, Ilse. 
I would rather make funeral wreaths and bouquets for 
Herr Claudius in the back office !” 

He looked at me. “ Who told you anything of the 
back office ?” 

Involuntarily my glance sought Charlotte, who laughed 
and blushed. 

“ Charlotte was joking, Herr Claudius !” said Fraulein 
rdiedner, apologetically. My eyes filled with tears, and 
the old lady put her arm around me, and drew me 
towards her. Ilse was only the more irritated by my 
“childish behaviour.” She laid her large, hard hand 
upon the tin box as if to guard its contents from all un- 
advised invasion. 

“ Pray, Herr Claudius, never permit Lenore to send 
any money away 1” she eagerly entreated. “ Let me tell 
you that if she should do it once, — only once, — her little 
inheritance is as good as gone. I cannot explain this to 
you. — it is a sad piece of family history that should not 
be spoken of. Gracious heavens ! that such a child 
should force me to allude to it 1 In fact, it is all about 
a certain relative who has brought disgrace upon her 
people, — who has been disowned ” 

“Do you know this relative?” Herr Claudius asked, 
turning to me 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


127 


“ No, I never saw her, and only learned that there 
Was such a person four weeks ago ” 

“ And she asked for a remittance ?” 

“ Yes ; in a letter to my dead grandmother. But no 
one will give her anything. She joined the play-actors. 
Use says, and is a singer.” 

The man’s face flushed crimson. He closed the folio 
upon his desk. 

“ But she has lost her voice, her glorious voice !” 1 
continued, trying eagerly to meet his eye again. He 
turned away. “ How terrible it must be to try to sing, 
and not be able to utter a sound 1 Use, you used to be 
so kind, how can you find it in your heart to refuse aid 
to any one in such distress ?” 

“How large a sum would you like to have?” Herr 
Claudius said, in his calm, gentle voice, cutting short my 
passionate entreaties. 

“ A few hundred thalers,” I boldly replied. 

Use clasped her hands above her head. 

“ Evidently you have no idea how much money that 
is,” he said. 

I shook my head. “ I don’t care how much it is if it 
only gives her voice back to her.” 

“ That’s true enough,” Use said, angrily. “ What does 
such a silly child care about the mischief she makes with 
her whims ?” 

“ I will give you the money,” Herr Claudius said to me. 

Use fairly screamed. 

“ Do not be alarmed ; I will see that it shall be no loss 
to Fraulein von Sassen, — that I answer for !” He opened 
a strong box beside his desk, and laid before me four 
bank-notes. Then he wrote a few words upon a sheet 
of paper. “Have the kindness to sign this receipt.” He 
handed me a pen. 


128 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“Use must do that, — I write too badly,” I said, 
candidly. 

A smile hovered around his mouth for an instant. 

“ That would hardly be business-like,” he said. “ If 
the money is given to you, Frau Use’s signature will 
not suffice. You certainly know how to write your 
name ?” 

“ Oh, yes ; but you will see what wretched work I 
make of it.” 

I stepped upon the platform, seated myself in the 
cushioned office-chair that he turned around for me, and 
looked down in high glee at Fraulein Fliedner and Char- 
lotte, who both laughed. It must have been a ridiculous 
sight, the diminutive girlish figure, in the huge, clumsy 
ruffle and tossed curls, sitting in the venerable office-chair 
before the immense folio, over which she was scarcely 
tali enough to peep ! I laughed, too, — a laugh that came 
directly from my heart 1 I was so pleased to have 
obtained the money for my aunt. 

Herr Claudius leaned his arm upon the writing-desk 
so that his figure was interposed between me and the 
rest. I seized the pen and began to make an L. 

“But this will never do,” I said, stopping as I saw 
him watching me. “ You must not look at my hands.” 

“ Indeed! — is that forbidden ? And may I ask why ?” 

“ Why, cannot you see yourself ? Because they are so 
brown and ugly,” I said, shortly, a little vexed at his 
making me speak of them. 

He smiled, and turned his head aside, while I began to 
write again diligently, — dear me ! how many letters there 
were in my name ! 

Suddenly the door opened, and the young gentleman 
hastily entered. The crimson carnation gleamed at me 
like a fiery ball. I dropped the pen, and covered my 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


120 


eyes with my hands ; the whole world seemed spinning 
around with me. 

“Uncle,” he cried, hurriedly, “I have come to an un- 
derstanding with Count Zell about the price, — only five 
louis d’ors more than you thought! Will not that do ? 
And will you not come and look at Darling? I have had 
him brought into the yard.” 

“ Herr Helldorf bids you good-morning, Dagobert,” 
said Herr Claudius, indicating the young clerk as he 
spoke. 

Dagobert nodded carelessly, and approached, evidently 
surprised and amused by my situation at the writing- 
desk. 

“ Heavens, Dagobert, a sentimental carnation in your 
buttonhole !” cried Charlotte, clasping her hands. “ What 
could have procured it that honour ?” 

Dagobert smiled significantly and mischievously at me. 
Use noticed the glance, which must have been apparent 
to all. 

“ Do not behave as if the child had given you the 
flower !” she said, dryly, adding, by way of explanation 
and to the great amusement of the bystanders, “ He 
beheaded the poor thing with his cane, before our eyes, 
and now he is letting it perish miserably in his button- 
hole.” 

The young gentleman shrugged his shoulders, and 
joined in the laughter. 

“But tell me, Uncle Erich, will you not come ? Pray 
do !” he said, changing the subject. 

“ Patience, — a business transaction must first be con- 
cluded,” said Herr Claudius. “Well?” he turned again 
to me, resuming his former position. 

The pen was lying across the receipt, my face waa 
covered with my hands, for I knew it must be crimson. 

I 


130 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS- 


“ 1 cannot,” I whispered. 

“ Go out, Dagobert, and see that there is no mischief 
done in the courtyard,” he said. “ I will come in a few 
moments.” 

The young gentleman left the room. 

“ Now, then, write,” said Herr Claudius, reassuringly, 
while his blue eyes rested keenly but kindly upon my hot 
cheeks. 

I finished the last stroke, and pushed the paper towards 
him. At the same moment I grasped his hand, — it was 
the first time in my life that I had taken the hand of a 
stranger. “ I thank you I” I said, from my very heart. 

“What for?” he rejoined, kindly, rejecting my hand 
and my thanks. “ We have simply entered into business 
relations with each other, — it is not a matter for grati- 
tude.” 

I left the platform, and put my arm around Use’s neck; 
her gloomy face was more than I could bear. “ Ilse, don’t 
be angry,” I begged ; “it had to be. Now, you see, I 
can sleep soundly again.” 

“ Oh, yes, Ilse must stand aside and say no more,” she 
answered ; but she did not repulse me. “ So it had to 
be ? Well, as you please, — I wash my hands of it. On 
the moor you could not count three before a stranger, and 
now;, all of a sudden, when you choose to have your own 
way, and see that others are on your side, you can chat- 
ter and talk like a magpie, with your cheeks as red as 
apples. You’ll never come to any good in this matter, — 
mark what I say, — but you need never come complaining 
to me !” 

She put my arms from about her neck, took my hand 
in hers, and was about to leave the room. 

“ Stay !” cried Herr Claudius, who had meanwhile 
seated himself at his desk, and was writing rapidly; “ are 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


131 


you going to leave Fraulein von Sassen’s property in my 
hands without any receipt ?” 

Now it was Use’s turn to have cheeks like apples. She 
was mortified to have so forgotten herself, — she who 
prided herself upon “ always knowing what she was 
about.” 

“ It is all the fault of your kind face, Herr Claudius. I 
ghould not have forgotten to ask any one else for a re- 
ceipt,” she said, by way of apology, while I seized the 
opportunity to slip the bank-notes which had been giver 
me, and which lay forgotten on the table, into my pocket. 
The strict man of business must have had a fine idea of 
the habits of moorland folk. 

“ Heavens, what stupid martinetism !” cried Charlotte, 
outside in the hall. “As if every one did not know that 
the house of Claudius would never sully its fingers by 
appropriating a few paltry thousand thalers ! But every 
penny and every seed must be ticketed and sealed.” 

“ Order must be preserved, — perhaps you will learn 
that one of these days,” said Fraulein Fliedner, brushing 
off with her handkerchief a speck of dust that had fallen 
upon her mantilla. 

The young lady tossed her head. “Now let us look 
at Darling 1” she said, as she ran down the steps to tL© 
courtyard door. 


TUE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


m 


CHAPTER XI V. 

The yard was empty, but the folding-doors of the gate 
leading into the garden were wide open, and through 
them came loud cries, and the noise of trampling and 
running as of men and furious animals. 

Herr Claudius followed us. He listened for one 
moment in surprise, and then hurried on before us into 
the garden. 

My heart beat with alarm and pity at what I saw 
through the open gate. A frightened horse was gal- 
loping about the flower-garden. The slender, graceful 
creature, his glossy back and flanks reflecting the sunlight 
in every shade of gold, rushed hither and thither like 
lightning over the variegated plain, setting at naught, 
with defiant neighs, the hands and feet that pursued him. 
As if in wanton exultation, he crushed beneath his hoofs 
a large bed of blooming stocks, and then dashed against 
the panes of a green-house. 

Rearing and recoiling at the noise made by the splinter- 
ing of glass, the beautiful creature stood for one instant 
motionless on his hind feet like a statue of bronze, then 
turned, and sped towards a trellis covered with roses, 
overturning it upon the ground. 

All the gardeners, with many of the house-servants, 
and even the two gentlemen from the counting-room, who 
had come out to see the cause of the disturbance, were 
running hither and thither in aid of Dagobert and a 
liveried footman ; and Charlotte, too, after standing for 
one moment with flashing eyes beside me, hurried into 
the garden. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


m 


As if rooted to the ground, her tall, stately figure in 
light, flowing robes, suddenly stood full in the path down 
which the horse was madly careering. He started back 
with a snort of dismay from so strange an apparition, 
but dexterously and swiftly those two Avhite, firm hands 
seized his bridle, and held it in a grasp of iron, not re- 
linquishing it, although the brave girl was dragged for- 
ward a few steps by the horse’s efforts to escape, until 
the others hastened up from all sides, and the furious 
animal was secured. 

“ Charlotte, you’re a jewel of a girl !” cried Dagobert, 
still breathless, but proud and exultant, kissing his sister’s 
forehead as he spoke. Beside her stood the young man 
from the counting-room, pale as a ghost, reproach in his 
glance, — he had been the first to come to her aid. I saw 
Charlotte look towards him; her cheeks grew crimson, 
but she turned lightly and indifferently away, as if half 
ashamed of what she had done. 

All admired her strength and courage, — for my part, 
I could have kissed those white, shapely hands. Herr 
Claudius alone said not one word. 

“Who opened both folding-doors into the garden ?” ho 
inquired, sternly, going towards the crowd of servants, 
who respectfully made way for him. 

“I was selecting the flowers to be taken to banker 
Tressel’s, and I had two men with me to carry the large 
frame for them ; of course, the folding-doors had to be 
open, and the horse probably shied at the tall oleander- 
trees upon the frame,” said the gardener with the gentle 
voice, who had pointed out the way for us the day before. 

Herr Claudius said no more. He addressed no word 
of reproof to Dagobert, who had brought the horse into 
the courtyard, — neither did he blame the groom for not 
being more careful. He did not even remark upon the 

12 


34 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


devastation in the garden. He turned and examined 
attentively the foaming charger. It was a beautiful 
animal, but there was something tricky and deceitful in 
the way in which it would stand with drooping head, 
and then suddenly toss it back without warning. 

Meanwhile, Dagobert had lightly sprung upon its back, 
and horse and rider came flying into the spacious court- 
yard. It was a magnificent sight. After a short, pas- 
sionate struggle, the steed acknowledged its master, and 
apparently obeyed his lightest hint. 

How completely all the men standing by, even the 
handsome young Helldorf, vanished beside that Tancred 
in chestnut curls ! There was no apparent effort made 
by his elastic frame, — no exercise of unusual force ; the 
bright colour that flushed his cheeks was all that betrayed 
that the horse still needed firm control. 

“ Uncle,” he cried, “forgive the mischief Darling has 
done for the sake of his superb qualities. Is he not mag- 
nificent? Just look at him, with his delicate, elastic 
frame, the small head upon his slender neck, graceful as 
a woman’s ; he combines an heroic amount of courage 
and fire! Uncle, I shall be too happy if I may have 
him.” 

“ I am sorry to hear it, Dagobert, for I shall not pur- 
chase him. The Count must still ride him himself,” said 
Herr Claudius, regretfully but firmly, going towards the 
garden as he spoke. 

Dagobert sprang down from the saddle and handed the 
bridle to the groom, who stood by smiling maliciously. 
“ My regards to the Count ; I will speak further with 
him about the matter,” he said, quickly. 

The man rode away, and the by-standers scattered in 
all directions to attend to their various avocations. 

Charlotte locked her arm in her brother’s and looked 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


135 


up tenderly into his flushed face. She led him into the 
garden, whither Fraulein Fliedner and Use had already 
gone to inspect the damage done to the green-house. 
They had entirely forgotten me. I followed the brother 
and sister, who struck into the path leading to the bridge. 

“Again I have been made to feel like a hectored school- 
boy 1” Dagobert exclaimed through bis clinched teeth. 
His voice sounded half stifled, as if it were choked with 
anger and disappointment. “Nothing irritates me as 
much in it all as his hypocritical composure. He re- 
fuses to buy the horse for two reasons : first, because by 
its misbehaviour he has lost a few groschen for bouquets 
and papers of seeds; and second, because in his bourgeois 
arrogance he will have nothing to do with the animal’s 
aristocratic owner ; he would rather be cheated by the first 
Jew he meets. But not a word of all this do you hear 
from him ; he preserves entire silence, pretends not to 
notice the mischief that has been done, and revenges him- 
self by refusing to buy the animal without giving any 
reason for so doing. And this sudden access of the 
manners and attainments of gentlemen ! Ridiculous ! 
He who has never in his life got upon anything but his 
one-legged office-chair, suddenly apes all the behaviour of 
a connoisseur and examines the horse ” 

“ Not so fast, not so fast l” Charlotte interrupted him. 
“ On the contrary, I have my suspicions that our uncle 
formerly, especially while in Paris, led the life of a 
thorough man of the world ; not from any love of it, — . 
there is no love for anything in his nature, except for 
business, — but perhaps because it was the fashion.” She 
shrugged her shoulders and looked towards the trellis, 
which had just been replaced under Herr Claudius’s 
directions. 

“We are both powerless against that brazen armour of 


136 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


calculating frigidity,” she continued, pointing to the group 
around the trellis. “ There is nothing to be done but to 
clinch your teeth, press your hand tightly upon your 
throbbing heart, and wait for the rising of some star of 
deliverance.” 

As she turned, she noticed me and held her hand 
out to me, not at all embarrassed by my presence. 
Dagobert, however, started at sight of my small per- 
son ; he evidently was annoyed to have been overheard. 
Could he only have surmised my state of mind ! My 
fingers crushed up the bank-notes in my pocket. I longed 
to throw them back to the man standing there by the 
rose-trellis, as I had once rejected his thalers on the 
moor, — icicle that he was, under the mask of gentleness 
and kindness, how he tyrannized over these two glorious 
young creatures! Was there no one in the world be- 
longing to them, save this hard-hearted old uncle ? They 
never dreamed what an enthusiastic ally they possessed 
in me. 

At the bridge, Dagobert took leave of us; he was 
going into the city. How good and noble he must be ! 
In spite of his disappointment, he went and bade his 
uncle farewell as if nothing had happened. 

Charlotte walked on slowly with me ; she said she 
.wanted a book from the library. 

“ Come here, little one,” she said, putting her arm 
across my shoulders and drawing me so close to her that 
I could feel the strong, quick beating of her heart ; “ I 
like you. There is character and resolution in this lili- 
putian body of yours. One must have a good share of 
courage to look into Uncle Erich’s eyes and ask for any 
thing.” 

“ Haven’t you a father, or at least a grandmother ?” I 
asked, nestling up to her and looking shyly into her beau 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


137 


tiful face, that still showed traces of her late agitation. 
It occurred to me at the moment that my lot, even with 
my grandmother, ill in mind although she were, had been 
a happy one. 

She looked down at me with a smile. “No, little 
Princess, not even a grandmother to leave me nine thou- 
sand thalers. Oh, heavens, in that case how I would 
shake the dust from my feet! We were orphaned when 
we were very young. My father was killed in ’44, 
in Morocco; he was a French officer. When he left 
France I was a tiny baby ; I do not even know how he 
looked ” 

“Perhaps like Herr Claudius? Was he not his bro- 
ther ?” 

She stood still, withdrew her arm, and clasped her 
hands with a laugh. 

“ Oh, child, child, how delightfully naive you are ! A 
Claudius in the French army ! A son of the respectable 
old German seedsman ! How he would have shaken his 
stiff and venerable queue ! No, no, there is not a single 
atom of this worthy shopkeeping stuff in us. Dagobert 
and I are French through and through, body and soul ! 
Thank God, there is not a single drop of this cold blood 
in our veins! We are adopted children. TJncle Erich 
adopted us. Heaven only knows why, — certainly not 
because any compassion moved him. I suppose that 
sounds odious from my lips, but I cannot help thinking it.” 

She put her arm around me again and we walked on 
slowly. 

“ His taking us into his house would be in itself noble 
and commendable,” she continued, “ and I should be the 
first to be grateful to him, if we had not been subjected 
to such galling despotism in the matter. He has forced us 
to take his name, — our own is Mericourt, — and we must 
12 * 


138 the little moorland princess. 

call ourselves Claudius, — Claudius, what an ugly, stiff 
bourgeois name it is 1 If he wanted to change Mericourt, 
which is, perhaps, abominable in German ears, he might 
at least have allowed us to take a * von* before the name 
he has given us. We have no reason to thank him for 
this forced exchange. He brands us with this shopkeep- 
ing name, and it is a great disadvantage to Dagobert in 
his career as a soldier.” 

“Is he a soldier ?” 1 asked, in surprise. Fraulein Streit 
had frequently described, with great minuteness, the gay- 
coloured coats, with bright buttons, that had once been so 
frequent in my father’s house. 

“ Why, does that astonish you ? Oh, yes, you have 
never seen him in his uniform. Still, I should think any 
one would recognize the soldier in him in spite of his 

civilian’s dress. He is in garrison in Z , and is here 

only for a few months upon leave. I am proud of Dago- 
bert. We agree admirably, one rarely meets a brother 
and sister such counterparts. Perhaps our love for each 
other is all the stronger because we have been separated 
for so long. Until two years ago, I have passed all my 
life since my third year at boarding-school, while he was 
educated first with a German professor and then in the 
school for cadets.” 

We emerged upon the open space in front of the 
Karolinenlust. 

“ Come, Hans, come here 1” cried Charlotte. The crane, 
that was at his old post by the pond, came stalking up 
to her like an eager adorer ; peacocks and guinea-fowls 
approached from several directions, and here and there 
the plumage of a pheasant was seen, only to disappear 
again, however, in the thicket, — my presence scared the 
timid creatures. 

“ See what unmerited affection I meet with from all 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


139 


quarters 1” laughed Charlotte. “ It certainly costs me 
nothing ; I never feed or caress these birds, and yet they 
follow me the instant they hear my voice. Is it not 
strange ?” 

I thought it not at all strange. Was I not myself 
running by her side like a faithful dog ? I was entirely 
too inexperienced and wanting in judgment to be able 
to attribute the power that she possessed to any special 
cause. Undoubtedly the charm that so impressed and 
fascinated me lay principally in the resolution and force 
that characterized her every action, and each word of 
her full, harmonious voice. I believed everything that 
she said to be gospel truth ; it never occurred to me that 
she might be wrong or mistaken. 

“ Where are the people travelling who live in there ?’ 7 
l asked, pointing to the sealed doors, as we walked 
through the corridors of the Karolinenlust. 

Charlotte looked at me for one moment incredulous as 
to whether I could mean what I said, and then laughed 
aloud. “ Do they seal up the doors in your country 
when people go on a journey ? Did Frau Use seal up 
the Dierkhof? Where are they travelling ? They have 
travelled to heaven, child !” 

I started. “ Are they dead V 7 

“Not they, but he: a young unmarried man lived 
here, — Lothar, Uncle Erich’s elder and only brother, — a 
splendid officer. You shall see his portrait finely painted 
in oil ; it hangs in the drawing-room of the other house n 

“ And he is dead ?” 

“ Dead, little one, irrevocably dead. The official an- 
nouncement said he died of apoplexy. The secret truth 
is that he put a bullet through his brain. The world 
believes that his death had some connection with a 
princess of the ducal family ” 


140 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ Is she named Sidonie ?” slipped out before I knew 
what I was saying. 

“Aha! the little moorland gipsy is interested in genea- 
logical matters ! Was she named, you must say, for the 
Princess Sidonie has long been dead ; she died a few days 
before the handsome officer killed himself. It is an old 
story ; no one knows much about it, — I least of all. I 
only know that there the seals are, and there, according 
to the last dispositions of the former proprietor, they 
are to remain until — well, until the end of the world, 
Heaven willing. I should like to have ope peep inside 
there, one stolen glance. But everything is bolted and 
barricaded up, and Uncle Erich watches the seals like 
Argus himself.” 

Heavens, if that implacable man with the piercing 
eyes should ever learn that I had already been wandering 
about behind those seals ! A shudder ran through me, 
and I compressed my lips lest the horrible secret should 
escape them. Scarcely entered upon my new exist- 
ence, I already had something to conceal from those 
around me, — I whose thoughts and speech had hith- 
erto been as free and unconstrained as my floating hair 
in the moorland breeze. 

Ilse, meanwhile, had ascended the staircase after us, 
reproaching me for leaving her behind when she had gone 
to see the devastation in the garden. 

“ Mischief enough the horrid brute has done !” she 
said, greatly incensed. “Two of those expensive glass 
frames are entirely destroyed, and a beautiful flowering 
tree is kicked over, the crimson flowers are lying all scat- 
tered upon the ground ; and yet that man keeps perfectly 
still and never says one word ! If it had happened to 


“ Uncle Erich has plenty of camellias,” said Charlotte, 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


141 


contemptuously. “What difference will the few that have 
been broken off make ? Be assured, besides, that every 
one will be paid for ; they will all be put on wires and 
stuck into the bouquets that are ordered for a huge bour- 
geois ball this evening. Nothing is wasted in this house, 
— rely upon that.” 

She opened the library-door, but I pushed past her 
and ran to the alcove by the window where my father 
was writing. No, she should not see him start and look 
up from his paper with that dazed, bewildered air. She 
should not laugh at him, — I would not allow it. 

“ Father, here we are again,” I said, and put my arm 
around his neck, so that he could not rise, and he did not 
try to, — he only looked into my face with a smile. I 
was overjoyed; he knew my voice already, and I had 
some power over him. 

“Aha, little one! is this the way you take possession 
of me ?” he said, jestingly, patting me on the cheek. 
“ But if you want to be like your dear mother, you will 
only lay your hand very gently on my forehead, or drop 
a flower upon my manuscript, and then slip away before 
I know who has been beside me.” 

It always made my heart ache when he thus men- 
tioned my mother, whom he must have loved devotedly. 
She had lavished a thousand tender cares upon him, but 
her lonely child had never known any affection from her. 

And now my father noticed that Charlotte was present. 
He arose and bowed. 

“ I have brought you back your little daughter, Herr 
Doctor,” she said. “ You must permit the unscientific 
dwellers in the other house to have a hand in forming 
and developing this wild moorland flower.” 

He thanked her cordially and accorded her his full 
permission. Suddenly he rubbed his forehead thought- 


142 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


fully. “ It just occurs to me, — yes, I am a little forget 
fill sometimes, — I had a short conversation yesterday 
with the Princess Margarethe, in which I casually men- 
tioned yoar arrival, my child, and she expressed a desire 
to see you next week. She knew your mother when she 
was lady-in-waiting at L .” 

“ Oh, you fortunate child !” cried Charlotte. “An an- 
cient name, a distinguished father, and a mother who 
was once in attendance at court ! — verily the gods have 
lavished their choicest gifts upon you, and you do not 
seem to care for it all I” 

‘‘No, I am afraid of the Princess,” I replied, shyly, 
pressing close to Use. 

“ Don’t be afraid, Lorchen ; you will love her as soon 
as you see her,” said my father, soothingly ; but Char- 
lotte’s finely-formed brow contracted with a frown. 

“ Moorland flower, don’t be childish,” she remonstrated. 
“ The Princess is very amiable ; she is the sister of the 
Princess Sidonie, of whom we were speaking just now, 
and the aunt of the young Duke. She does the honours 
at court, for her nephew is still unmarried, and she is said 
to be especially kind to young, shy, and, forgive me for 
adding, rather silly girls, who are afraid upon the occasion 
of their first presentation at court. So you need not be 
alarmed, little one.” 

She turned me by my shoulders towards the light. 
“Will you present your daughter to the Princess as she 
is ?” she asked my father, showing her pearly teeth in a 
smile that was truly elfish. 

He looked at her vaguely and uncomprehendingly. “ 1 
mean,” she added, “ in this costume that surely antedates 
the flood ?” 

“ Let me tell you, Fraulein,” Use here sharply inter- 
posed, “that my poor mistress wore that gown in mourn- 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


143 


‘mg' for her husband. She was great and grand then, 
and the dress was good enough for her, so it cannot harm 
the Princess to see the child in it.” 

Charlotte laughed in her face. “ How many years ago 
was that, my good Frau Ilse ?” 

This seemed to enlighten my father. Again he passed 
his hand across his brow. “Hml — is that the ques- 
tion ? Yes, yes, you are right, Friiulein Charlotte, 
Lorchen is really scarcely presentable. I remember,— 
my wife had exquisite taste, and used to go often to court 
with me. My dear Ilse, in the lower story here, some- 
where among my effects, there must be two trunks full 
of dresses; the housekeeper packed them up at that 
mournful time ” 

Ilse clasped her hands in dismay. “ Gracious mercy ! 
that was fourteen years ago ; and have they never once 
been unpacked and aired in all this time ?” 

H*e shook his head. 

“ Oh, you poor creature !” Charlotte exclaimed, exult- 
ingly; “I must come to the rescue, or there will be a 
scandal, indeed. I will take care that all is as it should 
be, Herr Doctor.” 

“ Indeed ! — and who will pay for it all ?” Ilse asked, 
dryly. 

My father looked extremely puzzled and anxious, in- 
terlacing his fingers until the knuckles cracked. 

Charlotte noticed his perplexity. “ I will speak to my 
uncle about it,” she said. 

“ He must not give the child any money but her own,” 
Ilse interposed ; “ and a pretty business there will be of 
it, — the little property will be scattered to the four winds 
for fripperies and nonsense before we can turn round.” 

“Keep your money for all I care!” cried Charlotte, 
irritably ; “ I will give her the new dress that was only 


144 THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 

sent home to me yesterday. I will not have the child go 
to court in that old dress, — I care a great deal too much 
for her.” 

I turned my head and kissed the plump white hand 
that was laid caressingly upon my shoulder. Ilse saw me 
do it. She shook her head, and a sad expression that I 
had never seen there before stole across her features. I 
think that, for the second time that day, she regretted 
having brought me among these “ sensible people.” 

But at present she had no cause for anxiety, — not a 
trace of gratified vanity alloyed the gratitude that 
prompted me to kiss Charlotte’s hand. I never dreamed 
that I should look prettier without the thick muslin ruffle 
which Charlotte boldly took from my neck, — my face 
would not be one whit less brown above such soft lace as 
she herself was wearing, and the little ears that grew so 
scarlet at every change of emotion would be no paler in 
colour when not contrasted with the waves of white 
muslin. But I never even bestowed a thought upon all 
this; I was simply thankful for the affection proffered 
me. 

Charlotte took leave of my father without taking with 
her the book she had come to seek, — my presentation at 
court seemed to have excited a whirl of projects and 
plans behind her smooth white brow. Below in the hall 
she assured me once more that she would see to every- 
thing, admonished me seriously to conquer my nonsensi- 
cal shyness and timidity, and then hurried back to the 
other house. 

“ Of course, you will not wear borrowed finery,” said 
Ilse to me, when Charlotte had disappeared in the grove 
on the opposite side of the pond. “ Your blessed grand- 
mother would turn in her grave. Oh, heavens ! I must 
go myself to Herr Claudius and ask him for the money 


TIiE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


145 


for the silly trash ! They’ll make a pretty puppet of you 
in the other house !” 

When we entered the sitting-room, where the maid- 
servant was laying the table, the kind old gardener came 
to tell me that by Herr Claudius’s orders he had placed 
a stand of flowers in my room. 

With much pains I uttered a few formal words of 
acknowledgment. I did not want any flowers from Herr 
Claudius ; he had better sell them, mean and illiberal 
uncle that he was ! I would not even go to my room to 
look at them. But in the afternoon I spent one of the 
most tedious and wretched hours of all my life until then 
beside them, for they overshadowed my writing-table. 
My writing-table 1 What irony it seemed to provide me 
with a table to be used solely for writing upon ! And 
there I sat and agonized over it, for I was writing a letter; 
it had to be done ; it was the first I had ever written. 
Ilse had proved inexorable. “ Get through with what 
}ou have begun as best you can. I will not touch a 
finger to it !” had been her inflexible declaration, and she 
had left me alone with my Titan undertaking. 

“ Dear Aunt, — I read your letter. I am so very 
sorry that you have lost your beautiful voice, and as my 
dear grandmother is dead, I send you the money,” could 
at last be deciphered in black, sprawling letters upon the 
paper before me. A beginning had happily been found, 
and I raised my eyes in search of further inspiration 
from without. 

A delicious fragrance encompassed me. Yes, there 
stood the stand of flowers; beautiful pale tea-roses hung 
their lovely heads heavily, and — oh, heavens ! — encircling 
all those tall, blossoming rose-bushes, azaleas and camel- 
lias, was a wreath of heather in full bloom I What 
K 13 


146 T1IE little moorland princess. 

thoughtful kindness it showed in the good old gardener ! 
I threw aside my pen, and plunged my hands deep among 
the blossoms. And before me rose the dear old roof, with 
the bees humming around it; and the magpies chattered 
shrilly down into the courtyard from the oak boughs. 
The glowing afternoon sunlight lay broad upon the bris- 
tling boughs of the old fir, and the yellow blossoms of tho 
broom gleamed like golden stars embroidered upon the 
pink-and-purple carpet of heather. Blue butterflies I I 
ran after them beneath the birch-tree, into the tangled 
network of willows and alders, and, with a bound, my 
warm, naked feet were in the cool, refreshing moorland 
stream ! Starting suddenly, I drew back my hands, and 
angrily dipped my pen afresh into the black fluid that 
had been invented for my confusion. 

I wrote on : “I am living with my father at Herr 

Claudius’s, in K , where you will, perhaps, let me 

hear from you, if the money reaches you correctly thrdhgh 
the post.” Full stop! Yes, that was all right; but 
would she be able to read it? Use always said there 
was no sense to be made of my writing, because the 
letters were so sprawled about. Ah, the crane on the 
banks of the pond began to dance, and a flock of guinea- 
fowls timidly concealed themselves in the bushes. Dago- 
bert emerged from the grove ; as he walked swiftly 
forward, he made rapid passes in the air with his slender 
cane, and came straight towards the Karolinenlust. I 
bent down out of sight, for he was looking steadily at 
the window by which I was sitting. No, no, he was 
not coming in, — it would have been too silly to obey 
my first impulse to bolt the door 1 He was going up to 
the library ; I could hear his footsteps die away at the 
head of the marble staircase. Heavens ! how much there 
was going on in the world to be seen and understood, 


I HE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


147 


and yet there were men who passed their days writing, 
amid musty books and papers, — like Herr Claudius, for 
example, in his counting-room with his big folio ! 

Then came the signature, “ Your niece, Lenore von 
Sassen,” and finally the address, which I copied labo- 
riously letter by letter from the torn fragment of my 
aunt’s note. Heaven be thanked ! It was my first, and 
most certainly it should be my last, letter. I would never 
do it again. There lay the pen on the rococo inkstand, 
where I had found it. I devoutly desired for it in future 
the repose of the tomb. 

Ilse was, after all, obliged to put the five stamps upon 
the envelope, and then she carried the letter angrily, and 
with the tips of her fingers, as if it could burn her, to 
the post. She would not for the world have trusted so 
much money to strange hands. 

This miserable production of mine and its consequences 
always remind me of a little innocent bird who, all un- 
consciously, carries the seed of some ugly, luxuriant weed 
into the midst of a beautiful bed of flowers. 


CHAPTER XY. 

The firm of Claudius & Co. was very old. It had 
flourished and enjoyed a wide-spread reputation when 
the tulip mania raged in Holland and thence through 
Europe, in the seventeenth century, when the incredible 
sum of thirty thousand gulden was paid for three bulbs 
of the Semper Augustus. The enormous wealth of the 
firm dated from that time, when it produced the rarest 
and most costly specimens of tulips. It is said that 


148 THE LITTLE MOORLAND rRTNCESS. 

some of the most famous species were originally sent 
from this skilful German firm to Holland, where they 
were bought at fabulous prices, and found their way 
into the market as exclusively Hutch. But as the wealth 
of the firm accumulated, its chiefs became more and more 
simple, honest, and retiring. They preserved the strictest 
bourgeois simplicity and integrity ; through a succession 
of last wills and testaments and final earthly dispositions 
might be found the same admonitions to the successor, to 
frugality and uprightness, threatening with disinheritance 
any leaning towards luxury or dissipation. 

Thus it happened that the exterior of the dark, granite 
house in the retired street had never been beautified or 
renewed. Each successive head of the firm took up his 
abode there, and the packing-room, the large, vaulted 
apartment, with brown leather hangings, looked about 
the same at present as when there issued thence those 
costly bulbs that were to ravish the imagination of the 
tulip fancier with a vision of the gorgeous queen of 
flowers about to emerge from them. 

The old flower-merchants, who tended their delicate 
plants with one hand, while with the other they tried to 
forge iron chains and armour around their successors, 
ought to have known well that degeneration and variety 
will sometimes burst the bonds of all law, and, if they 
had been wise, would have remembered this fact in 
flower culture in their treatment of human beings. 

Eberhard Claudius, a liberal-minded, -influential man, 
had suffered severely from the narrow traditions of the 
house ; but he had found a means of relief. The story 
ran that his beautiful and passionately-adored young wife 
had been a prey to melancholy in the gloomy rooms of 
the old house fronting on the street. And one day, when 
no one dreamed of his intentions, foreign workmen had 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


149 


Arrived, and, under the direction of a French architect, 
had cleared a space in the midst of the wide forest do 
main that was encircled by the wall bounding the Clau- 
dius estate, and gradually, in the very centre of the pro- 
tecting woodland, there arose an exquisite villa, full of 
sunlight and luxurious silken hangings, full of fluttering 
Cupids and lofty mirrors, to reflect the beauty of his idol- 
ized wife. And upon the day when his pale darling 
walked for the first time around the enchanting little 
lake that seemed like the work of magic, and in the spa- 
cious sunny hall clasped her husband in her arms in 
grateful delight, the villa was named by him in her 
honour “ Karolinenlust.” 

Eberhard Claudius had also founded the antique cab- 
inet and the noble library, with its collection of manu- 
scripts. He had travelled through France and Italy, 
where he had collected treasures of art and science, se- 
lected with rare taste and knowledge ; these were all 
lavished to enrich the retirement of his wife, whose 
youth bloomed afresh in the Karolinenlust. 

After him, Conrad, his son, became the head of the 
firm and returned to the old traces. With Puritanic se- 
verity, he re-established the old strict domestic rules, and 
the Karolinenlust, with its adornments, was bolted and 
barred up as a direct protest of refined luxury against 
the spirit of his ancestors. The first of his successors 
to display variety afresh was Lothar, his grandson. 

Lothar resolutely refused to enter the firm when he 
and his younger brother Erich were left orphans at an 
early age. His fiery temperament decided in favour of a 
military career. His advancement was rapid, a patent 
of nobility was awarded him, and he became the especial 
favourite of the Prince. Then the Karolinenlust was re- 
opened. It was well adapted for the abode of the 
13 * 


150 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


aspiring branch of the ancient merchant race, and, as if 
in protest against any further community with the other 
house, a barred and bolted gate was erected at the en- 
trance upon the bridge from the Karolinenlust side. 

There, in genuine woodland seclusion, the handsome 
young officer resided, while the bookkeeper Eckhof ad- 
ministered affairs in the other house until Erich Claudius 
returned from his travels, and, faithful to the old tradi- 
tions, entered upon his inheritance with iron resolution 
and devotion to business. 

The petted, wayward officer, however, had known no 
better than his immediate predecessors how to appreciate 
the cabinet of antiquities. The chests and boxes in the 
vaults had not been disturbed for many years when, sud- 
denly, the young Duke succeeded to the helm of state and 
manifested a perfect passion for archaeology. My father, 
one of the greatest authorities in such matters, was sum- 
moned to K , and antiquarians sprang up everywhere 

like mushrooms ; his Highness might have paved his 
palace with them. Conversation at the court balls teemed 
with Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities, and such 
words as “ numismatic,” “glyptic,” and “ epigraphic” 
dropped like pearls from the rosy lips of lovely partners 
in the dance. 

The news of the sudden mania at court had been 
brought by Dagobert to the lonely old house fronting on 
the street. Fraulein Eliedner, who had been companion 
to the late Frau Claudius, Lothar’s and Erich’s mother, 
and had, by the last will of that lady, remained in the house 
as castellane and housekeeper, could tell many a half-for- 
gotten tale of former times, and she recollected and told of 
the antique treasures of the Karolinenlust. Dagobert had 
communicated the intelligence to my father, and the latter 
often related how he had paused, with an incredulous 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


151 


smile, in front of the respectable business-like house, 
fronting on the street, before he could decide to enter 
and request permission to make a search ; which permis- 
sion was accorded him by Herr Claudius, apparently not 
quite ungrudgingly. 

Early on that morning my father descended into the 
vaults of the Karolinenlust, whence he did not reappear 
during the entire day ; he neither ate nor drank ; he was 
almost wild with excitement ; such an immense mine of 
scientific treasures was here revealed to him. Herr 
Claudius permitted the unpacking and arrangement of 
the objects of art, and placed apartments in the lower 
story at my father’s disposal, granting him, also, entire 
command of the library. 

I did not learn all this during my first days in K . 

I was little inclined to make any inquiries upon such 
subjects ; for, after the first flood of novelty had subsided, 
I was possessed by homesickness for the moor. To be 
sure, Use was still with me, — she had added a few days 
to her self-granted leave of absence from home that she 
might establish some degree of order in my father’s 
bachelor establishment, and perhaps that she might see 
me at least begin to take root in the new soil. But her 
presence did not soothe my troubled heart ; I knew that 
she must leave me finally, and the thought agitated me 
beyond description. 

In the other house every one was exceedingly kind to 
me; but I hated its cold, gloomy walls, and never entered 
them except in company with Fraulein Fliedner or Char- 
lotte. It never occurred to me to go thither of my own 
accord. But I was more and more attracted towards my 
father. I did not, indeed, after his gentle reproof, annoy 
him by suddenly throwing my arms around his neck, nor 
did I even dare imitate my mother by dropping a flower 


152 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


upon his manuscript ; but I had the courage to place a 
vase of fresh wild flowers upon his writing-table every 
morning, and, as I slipped by him, sometimes I would 
pass my hands shyly and gently over his gray hair. I 
liked to be in the library, and still more to wander about 
the room, full of what Use called “ the broken rubbish. ” 
All those mute figures gradually acquired a power over 
me, and sometimes made me forget the wide moorland in 
the north after which my very soul thirsted. 

But I was often frightened away from this room. 
Dagobert, who really developed a passion for antiquarian 
lore, would spend whole half-days in the library and 
antique cabinet. As soon as I heard him enter the 
library, I fled through the opposite door, rushed down 
the stairs, and sometimes was so pursued by childish 
timidity that I could not stay in the house, but ran 
breathless until I was hidden in the woods. 

This bit of woodlands was most beautiful, — to all ap- 
pearance a genuine little primeval forest. Some old Herr 
Claudius had bought it and inclosed it, not for any busi- 
ness purposes, but simply and solely that he and his suc- 
cessors might enjoy their Sunday promenades, the only 
luxury that they allowed themselves, in seclusion, upon 
their own soil, undisturbed by stranger eyes. The in- 
tense longing for my boundless moor that at first pos- 
sessed me made me cold and indifferent to the beauty of 
the forest. I would not look up, — that sky of greenery 
was odious ! All the more did I delight in every wild 
plant and flower in the moss at my feet ; they seemed 
shy and timid like myself. 

Although I had wandered fearlessly upon the spacious 
moor, I could not bring myself to explore these woodland 
depths. I confined my rambles to the vicinity of the 
house, and I should have greatly preferred the thicket on 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


153 


the banks of the water, for it reminded me of my home, 
but that I was driven thence on the second day after my 
arrival in K. When Use took my letter to the post I 
accompanied her as far as the bridge. Beneath its grace- 
ful arches the clear, bright water flowed with as soft and 
musical a murmur as that of the dear moorland stream 
behind the Dierkhof. I slipped into the bushes. They 
were alders and willows, with here and there a silvery 
gleaming birch. There were no pearl mussels to be found, 
but watercresses and white ranunculi were growing 
upon the moist banks. Upon the rippling waves was 
mirrored a tiny fleck of blue sky that peeped in among 
the overhanging boughs, — everything looked as it did in 
the little lake at home ; I took off my shoes and stock- 
ings, and in an instant the bubbling water was curling 
around my feet, that had, to my disgust, already grown 
whiter from their few days of close confinement. It was 
as if all the new-forged fetters fell from my body and 
soul at the touch of the water. I laughed with de- 
light and stamped repeatedly, so that the drops splashed 
high in the air. Suddenly there was a crackling in 
the bushes ; it was just the sound that Spitz used to 
make at the Dierkhof when he came to look for me, and 
would dash through the underbrush into the water, 
and everything around me now was so like home that at 
that sound of breaking twigs I called my dear old com- 
rade loudly by name. What was I about? No Spitz, 
of course, appeared, but, just where I had heard the 
sound, the willow branches were gently stirred, and a 
man’s arm in a light cloth sleeve was hurriedly withdrawn. 

With a bound I was on the bank ; I could have 
cried with vexation. In the very first hours of the two 
years that were to form me to such elegance, what a 
terrible relapse was this ! Dagobcrt had seen the lizard 


154 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS 


barefooted again. How they would laugh at me in the 
other house 1 But he had been in a dark dress when I 
had seen him an hour before with my father, and then, 
too, a brilliant gleam had flashed upon me from the 
thicket. That gleam I had seen once before that day 
in the counting-room upon Herr Claudius’s hand. 1 
breathed more freely ; yes, it had been only Herr Clau- 
dius ! He must have heard my nonsensical splashing in 
the water, and had come to see who was breaking the 
willow twigs upon his estate, or disturbing the pebbles 
in his stream. He might rest assured that I would never 
do it again. 

Sunday came after we had been five days in K . At 

the Dierkhof, the distant bells had sounded like a faint, 
broken tinkle ; how I started when a deep, sonorous 
peal rang out upon the air of the town ! 

Ilse got ready for church ; and, as she walked solemnly 
to the music of those bells around the little lake, I stood 
in the hall and looked after her. The old bookkeeper 
came out of his room ; he had his hymn-book under his 
arm, and was putting on a pair of small, new, lavender- 
coloured gloves, — the old gentleman fairly shone with 
neatness and elegance. As he came near where I was 
standing, he stood still. He did not bid me good-morn- 
ing ; his new, shiny hat was not lifted from his head ; 
but he measured me from head to foot with a look con- 
veying stern reproof. I began to tremble with fear, and, 
as he opened his mouth to speak to me, I turned and fled 
out of the house towards the woods. 

Would the terrible man follow me ? I stopped breath- 
less, and looked timidly behind me. The path that I had 
pursued traversed the thicket. Without knowing it, I 
had partly ascended a wooded hill. A 11 was silent below 
me — the pious man had doubtless continued upon his 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


155 


way to church. Before me the narrow road opened upok 
a meadow, where the dew still clung to the feathery 
grasses, while all along the edge of the forest the wild 
strawberries grew undisturbed, — no one came hither to 
pluck them; they perfumed the air, which had a golden 
glimmer: I imagined I could see it tremble with the 
sound of the bells. Dark pines were everywhere around, 
their giant trunks dripping with moisture, while there 
was a low murmur in their topmost boughs. 

A mysterious influence, unknown in the busy world, 
reigned around ; it was as quiet as in those sealed apart- 
ments. I heard a slight rustle in the forest, and saw 
something white and reddish-brown wandering there ; 
then a majestic pair of horns appeared, — the graceful 
creatures were tame and gentle ; they crossed the meadow 
towards me, gazing at me with fearless eyes. 

On I went ; how far I pursued my voyage of discovery 
I did not know. I must have passed hours wandering 
over hill and dale. I had not the leasr idea where I 
was ; but I felt no fear : the pure, fresh air had blown 
it all away. I stood in a hollow, a hill behind me ; but 
where could I be ? Several paths crossed each other, and 
I was uncertain which to pursue, when suddenly I heard 
a voice in the wood upon my left. I instantly recognized 
it ; it belonged to the kind old gardener, who was trying 
his best to soothe a screaming child. I went towards 
the spot whence the sound proceeded, and came to a 
wall, the boundary of the forest ; the space behind it 
was clear of trees. I longed to see the screaming child, 
but I could not climb the wall, which was high and 
smooth ; nevertheless I could climb trees like a squirrel. 
I liked it almost as well as paddling my feet in the 
moorland brook, and in a moment I was sitting high 
up in the boughs of an elm-tree. 


*56 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


I looked abroad upon a fair prospect and a considerable 
extent of sky. At my right lay the steepled city, flanked 
by ornamental roads, — then the stream, the same that 
traversed the Claudius estate. I was close by the Karo- 
linenlust without knowing it, for the water was scarcely 
two hundred paces from me, spanned by a broad stone 
bridge. On the hither side, between the stream and the 
edge of the forest, lay a succession of pleasant villas, 
surrounded by gardens charmingly laid out ; on my left, 
so near that I could easily see every object in the second 
story, was a pretty Swiss cottage. The spot of ground 
belonging to it was small, consisting of a little flower- 
garden in front and a diminutive lawn in the rear, over- 
shadowed by the impenetrable boughs of a magnificent 
horse-chestnut, the only tree within the bounds of the 
small domain, which was separated only by a broad 
highway from the wall inclosing the Claudius estate. 

Schafer, the old gardener, was walking to and fro 
beneath the overhanging balcony of the cottage. He 
had a pink muslin cloak thrown across his shoulder, and 
was holding the little shrieking rogue in his arms as 
artistically as an experienced nurse, while singing to it 
in evident perplexity all manner of nursery songs. Upon 
the bit of lawn, behind the house, a little girl, about 
four years old, was playing. She had on a white gown, 
and her long flaxen hair fell almost down upon her sash. 
Her entire soul was absorbed in her play. She was 
tearing up handfuls of grass, and filling a toy wagon with 
it. For awhile she played on, evidently not hearing the 
child’s screaming, but at last she came into the garden, 
plucked a half-faded stock, and held it up towards her 
naughty baby brother. 

“ You must not pluck the flowers, Gretchen. Papa has 
forbidden it !” a man’s voice cried to her from the balcony. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS 


157 


The southern end of the balcony was so completely 
hidden behind a trellis, covered with a wild grape-vine, 
that not a ray of sunlight fell upon the table spread there 
for dinner. 

Young Helldorf, whom I had seen at work in HeiT 
Claudius’s counting-room, now leaned over the rail. He 
had been hidden by the vines hitherto. He had a book 
in his hand ; and although he spoke rather in a tone of 
reproof, a tender smile played about his mouth at sight 
of the pretty little creature standing below upon tiptoe. 

Across the bridge came a gentleman with a lady upon 
his arm. They stood still, listening for a moment, and 
then the lady slipped away, and ran on before to the 
impatient child. She must have been to church, for she 
hurriedly laid aside her hymn-book upon the nearest 
garden-table and held out her arms for the boy, who, at 
the sound of her voice, ceased crying and crowed with 
delight, dancing with eagerness. In an overflow of 
maternal tenderness, she devoured the chubby little 
fellow with kisses, then put her left arm around her 
daughter, and drew her towards her. She was very 
delicate, in appearance. The healthy boy looked almost 
heavy enough to break her slender arm. She took off 
her straw bonnet, at the blue ribbons of which the boy 
was tugging, and revealed a lovely face, fair as a lily, and 
a head crowned with masses of hair as light as little 
Gretchen’s. 

In the mean while the husband, whom she had left 
behind, also entered the garden. He looked very like 
young Helldorf. The two men were evidently brothers. 
He took up his little daughter and tossed her into the air; 
her white dress waved like a summer cloud, her golden 
curls fluttered as she gleefully called out towards the bal- 
cony, “ Uncle Max, can you see me V 1 

14 


158 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


I was enchanted. It was my first glimpse of the real 
pleasures of home ; cordial delight in what I witnessed, 
and a profound yearning, for which I knew no name, 
mingled with melancholy, possessed me. No mother 
had ever caught me lovingly to her breast. I had never 
known, like that happy child, that one word from the 
tender voice of a mother suffices to soothe all childish 
Borrow. And I could almost have envied the mother, 
too, as she kissed and caressed her little ones. How 
sweet to have the arms of children stretched out to you, 
to have them look to you, and you alone, their mother, 
for love and consolation ! 

Gretchen returned to her hay-wagon, and went on 
with her play, while the others entered the house. I 
softly descended from my post of observation, and walked 
along the wall until I discovered a gate upon the road. 
There was a key in the lock, which was so rusty that it 
was evidently seldom used. But my desire to speak to 
the little girl gave me strength and skill. After much 
patient exertion the key turned, and the gate opened with 
a loud creak. 


CHAPTER X Y I. 

1 ran across the road to the low fence. Gretchen 
looked up with wondering eyes, and, leaving her toy 
wagon, came towards me. 

“ Hid you open it ?” she asked me, pointing to the gate 
whence I had emerged. “Are you allowed to do that, 
little girl ?” 

I assented with a laugh. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


159 


‘‘But your garden is not pretty at all,” she said, turn- 
ing up her little nose disdainfully, and nodding towards 
the depths of green that the open gate disclosed. “ You 
haven’t one single flower in it ! Just look at ours, — Herr 
Schafer has so many, so many, — oh, a hundred thousand 
flowers !” 

“ Yes ; but you must not pluck them.” 

“ No, not pluck them,” she repeated, quite cast down, 
putting her taper forefinger in her mouth. 

“But I know where there are lovely blue harebells — 
and white ones, too — that you may pluck as many of 
as you want, and you can fill your cart with straw- 
berries. ” 

She immediately came out of the garden, dragging 
her hay-wagon after her, and confidingly put her hand 
in mine. I was delighted with my new acquaintance, 
and I never thought of closing the gate behind us, but 
left it wide open while we wandered about the woods, 
where the strawberries and harebells were growing 
in profusion. The child clapped her hands and began to 
dig and pull as if she meant to carry home in her wagon 
half the soil of Herr Claudius’s forest. 

“ Oh, dear me, what loads of strawberries !” and she 
sighed, in excess of delight, running to and fro, and 
plucking so busily that her face was crimson ; and then 
she hummed to herself a little song. 

“ I can sing, too, Gretchen,” said I. 

“ As pretty songs as mine ? I can’t believe it. Uncle 
Max taught me mine. Well, sing me something, then !” 

My ear for music must have been developed at an 
early age, for all the bits of song that I knew had been 
taught me in my dark nursery in town by Fraulein Streit. 
I delighted in “ Taubert’s Nursery Songs,” and so I now 
began to sing, “ The farmer has a dovecote fine.” I had 


160 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


geated myself upon a fragment of rock ; and, at the first 
notes, Gretchen left her hay-wagon, leaned her elbows in 
my lap, and looked up into my face in breathless atten- 
tion. 

It was strange, — I was absolutely startled by my own 
voice. On the moor it had sounded comparatively weak ; 
the winds had dispersed it abroad ; but here the close- 
drawn curtains of woodland greenery gave back its tones, 
and it welled forth so full and clear that I could hardly 
believe it the same. 

The song of the farmer and his doves that fly away 
from him is a merry one. Gretchen laughed aloud and 
clapped her hands with delight after the first verse. 
“ Did he catch the doves again ? Isn’t there some more 
of it?” she asked. 

I began another verse, but suddenly the notes died on 
my lips. From my rocky seat I could see a tolerable 
distance along the winding path leading to the Karolinen- 
lust. Along this path came the old bookkeeper. I was 
reminded of a white-topped storm-cloud, as I looked at 
him, so stern and menacing was his countenance beneath 
the silvery gleam of his uncovered hair, as he rapidly 
advanced towards us. 

Gretchen turned to see what I was looking at ; her face 
grew crimson, and, with a scream of delight, she ran to 
him and clasped her little arms around his knees. 

“ Grandpapa!” she cried, lovingly looking up at him. 

He stood as if turned to stone, regarding her fixedly, 
his hands stretched out as if suddenly, while walking 
heedlessly, an abyss from which he recoiled had opened 
before him. In this attitude he stood for a minute, as if 
fearing that his hands, if dropped, might touch a golden 
hair of that little head. 

“ Yes, yes, you are my grandpapa ? Louise said so— 3 ,f 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


1G1 


“ Who is Louise ?” he asked, in a monotonous tone of 
voice, as if to ward off other explanations with the ques- 
tion. 

“ Why, grandpapa, our Louise ! She took care of my 
little brother when he was a tiny baby. But she has 
gone now. Mamma says we cannot have a nurse ; it 
costs a great deal too much ” 

The stony face twitched slightly and the hands slowly 
dropped. 

“ And what is your name ?” he asked. 

“ Don’t you know that, grandpapa ? Why, Herr Scha- 
fer’s Carlo knows that, and so does our puss ! Gretchen 
is my name. But I have some more names, beautiful 
ones, — I’ll tell you every one now, — Anna Marie Helene 
Margarethe Helldorf.” 

With childish gravity she told off the names one by 
one upon her little fingers. There was an indescribable 
charm in the child’s voice, in her whole innocent manner, 
a charm which the old man evidently could not quite 
resist. Suddenly I saw his jewelled hand rest lightly 
upon the child’s fair head ; he stooped, — was he about 
to kiss the lovely little face ? Perhaps, if time had been 
allowed him to take the child in his arms, to feel her heart 
throb against his own, knowing that between them there 
was the strong tie of blood, the moment might have been 
one upon which angels would have smiled. But it some- 
times happens that, just as the tangled threads of fate 
seem about to adjust themselves in a fair-spun web, some 
mysterious hand interferes to prevent and confuse the 
order and beauty of reconciliation and peace. 

I did not know why I was so startled to see a light 
dress fluttering among the trees in the direction of the 
gate in the wall. It hurriedly approached, and in an in- 
stant the young mcther from the Swiss cottage came in 
L 14* 


162 THE little moorland princess. 

full sight of the group. She gave a low cry, and covered 
her face with her hands. 

The old gentleman started. I never shall forget the 
expression of icy scorn that instantly took possession of 
his aged, handsome features. 

“ Aha, the farce is an admirable success I The child has 
been well trained to her part !” He pushed the little one 
from him so that it almost fell. 

The mother ran to it and took it in her arms. “ Father,” 
she said, raising a warning forefinger, “you may do to 
me what you please ; tread me beneath your feet, if you 
will ; but you shall not touch my child with your hard 
hand 1 Never dare to do it again I” 

She pressed the little girl, who, now pale with terror, 
said not one word, still closer to her breast. 

“ I do not know who brought the child here,” she con- 
tinued. 

“I did,” I said, in trembling tones, as I came forward. 
“ Forgive me!” 

Agitated as she was, her face, as she turned to me, 
showed a fleeting expression of gentle kindness. 

“ I wished to call the child into the house,” she went on 
to the old man, while every line in her lovely face grew 
hard as steel, “ and I found her gone, and the gate here 
open. I flew hither to forestall the moment when she 
might meet your eye. I was too late. Father, after 
many a hard conflict with myself, I am resigned to be 
called by you a heartless, ungrateful, lost daughter. I 
am powerless to ward off your denunciations, to which 
the pious world says ‘yes’ and ‘amen V But you shall 
not touch me as a mother. I, train my jewel, this sacred 
trust of mine, this innocent darling, to play a part, that 
my selfish desires might be promoted ? It is an insult 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . I53 

that I will not endure : I repel it, — and you will one day 
answer to me for it before God !” 

She turned and went away. 

I thought he would certainly follow her, and take her 
to his heart ; but he was evidently too unassailable in 
his own conceit, — one of those who think it impossible 
that they can be wrong, and who, at the bare suspicion 
of such a thing, intrench themselves in scorn and 
severity. 

He cast a bitter glance after his child, and then, with 
anger in every flushed feature, advanced so close to me 
that I retreated a step before him. 

“ And you, — how dare you presume to open a locked 
and bolted gate in these grounds without permission V y 
he began, and there was an accumulation of hitherto 
repressed malice in his angry voice. 

I stood overwhelmed with confusion. I could neither 
move hand nor foot. And, oh, heavens 1 a reinforcement 
suddenly appeared upon his side. Here, close to me, 
stood Herr Claudius, as if suddenly risen ou* of the 
ground. He must have come from the thicket behind 
me. I looked up at him. He wore the hideous blue 
spectacles, and was still paler than he had been in 
the counting-room. Of course, he never would forgive 
me for opening his gate and bringing strangers in with 
out permission. Now these two stern, hard-hearted 
tradesmen would pronounce judgment upon me, and there 
was no escape. I was utterly defenceless. Would there 
be any use in screaming for Ilse or my father to help me ? 

“Herr Claudius, ” said the bookkeeper, strangely dis- 
comfited by the unexpected appearance of the lord of the 
domain himself, and speaking in a much less arrogant 
tone, “you find me greatly agitated. I came, hither 
while taking my usual Sunday walk, and ” 


164 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ I have been an unseen spectator of all that has 
passed,” Herr Claudius interrupted him, quietly. 

“ So much the better, — then you will grant that I have 
cause for displeasure. In the first place, without our 
knowledge, a remote door, which we have not secured, 
has been opened ” 

“ That is certainly unfortunate, Herr Eckhof ; but, 
iu your zeal, you seem to have forgotten that Fraulein 
von Sassen is the daughter of my guest, and is not to be 
taken to task in the terms which you have just allowed 
yourself to make use of.” 

I looked up in amazement and tried to see the eyes 
behind the spectacles. Matters were turning out quite 
contrary to my expectations. The bookkeeper recoiled 
as if he had heard such words from those lips for the 
first time in his life. He contracted his white brows 
sullenly, and repeated, with a look of scornful malice, — 

“ Fraulein von Sassen ! Where is the nobility that I 
am to respect ? Scarcely in the person of this oddly- 
apparelled child ! ” 

“ I had no intention of emphasizing the ‘ von,’ ” Herr 
Claudius replied, with a slight blush ; “ I simply in- 
tended to remind you of the respect due, without distinc- 
tion, to every guest of mine.” 

“Well, well, you will one day see what a blessing 
your hospitality will call down upon your honest roof in 
this case. I have besought and prayed, but in vain 1 
The heathen pictures have all been brought out again 
into the light of day, and there, in the Karolinenlust, sits 
a man who knows no God, but would set up the ancient 
idols. And he who wields the sceptre, — the godless 
youth upon the throne, who should be an ensample unto 
his people of holiness and virtue, making the whole land 
to be full of praise and prayer, — he helps to exalt the 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


165 


golden calf. There is a great cry in Sodom and Go- 
morrah, — their cup is almost full. The Lord is long- 
suffering ; but the hour will come when the heavens will 
rain down fire and brimstone I” 

Herr Claudius, in silence but in evident perplexity, 
listened to the fanatical zealot. The old man apparently 
spoke from profound conviction, but perhaps had never 
declaimed so violently before his employer as in this mo- 
ment of excitement. 

“ The Lord has permitted me to see and hear when 
He has smitten the unbelieving with blindness and deaf- 
ness, he continued. Raising his arm, he pointed, like 
a prophet, to the Karolinenlust. “ The house there was 
builded in sin ; it has always been a sink of iniquity, and 
those who there transgressed the commandments of the 
Lord cannot rest; they wander there still, and lament, 
and prophesy ruin to the house that shelters Sabbath- 
breakers ” 

Herr Claudius raised his hand as if to interrupt. 

“ Did I not hear a piercing shriek come from the 
rooms so long locked and sealed?” the old man co» 
tinued, in a louder tone. “ Did I not see the light hang- 
ing from the ceiling of my room shake beneath the tread 
of the unquiet spirit wandering above it ? Yes, they 
have arisen from their graves, condemned in expiation 
of their sins to return to the world and warn those who 
walk here in blindness. Herr Claudius, on the very day 
when that young creature first entered the Karolinenlust, 
there was stir and noise in the locked and sealed apart- 
ments.” 

Good heavens, the man had heard me ! While I had 
thoughtlessly been exploring the guarded precincts of 
the dead possessor of the villa, those sharp blue eyes 
bad watched the hanging-lamp in his apartment ; the 


166 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


old man had heard my scream at sight of my own figun* 
in the mirror, and, in his glowing fanaticism, made use of 
it all to prejudice his superior against my father and 
myself. 

Involuntarily I looked up again at Herr Claudius's 
face ; it was turned upon me ; but the shining blue glasses 
so concealed his eyes that it was impossible to tell from 
them what impression the words of the bookkeeper had 
produced. He made one step towards me, — perhaps fright 
had made me pale, and he feared some attack of nervous 
weakness upon my part; but when he saw such fear was 
groundless, he again addressed my stern persecutor: 

“You are pertinaciously insisting that orthodoxy 
must lead in the end to the grossest superstition 1" he 
said, irritation and compassion mingling in his usually 
calm voice. “ I cannot tell you how sorry I am, Herr 
Eckhof, to see you the victim of this wretched mysti- 
cism. I have already been warned of this, but I did not 
wish to believe it possible. Of course, I have no right 
to control your opinions in the remotest degree ; but 
I must request you to suppress the expression of them 
in all matters of business as well as in my domestic 
affairs.” 

“ I shall obey you, Herr Claudius," the bookkeeper re- 
plied, and there was a depth of faintly disguised malice in 
the ostentatious submission of his manner. “ But you will 
permit me to make one request of you. I have been an 
inmate of the Karolinenlust now for many years, and I 
have held it a great privilege to be enabled to pass my 
Sabbaths here in that quiet and retirement which accord 
with the Lord’s command that the day should be kept 
holy. I therefore beg that you will give orders that this 
sacred seclusion should never again be outraged by such 
shouting, such frivolous screaming, as echoed through 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND TRINCESS. 167 

the forest a short time since. This much, I think, as an 
old man, I am entitled to ask ” 

Again the blue glasses were turned upon me ; I ex- 
pected a stern reproof and a strict injunction as to the 
future ; but again I was wrong. 

“ I heard no shouting,” Herr Claudius replied, very 
composedly ; “ but I witnessed a scene that shocked me. 
This young girl” — he inclined his head towards me — 
“ has not transgressed the command of the Lord by her 
Innocent song; but you, Herr Eckhof, have just returned 
from church. You are, as you have distinctly intimated, 
one of those blameless Christians who refer all their 
actions to some command of God. How could you 
desecrate His day by showing harshness and implacability 
to your child ?” 

An evil look was shot at the speaker from beneath 
those white eyebrows. 

“I have no children now, Herr Claudius, as you at 
least ought to know,” he said, emphasizing the “ you” as 
if it were meant to cut deep. 

He bowed and hurriedly retraced his steps in the path 
by which he had made his approach. I felt instinctively 
that Herr Claudius must be deeply wounded by a word 
so emphasized, and I looked at him. The blow had 
struck home. 


1G8 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


CHAPTER X Y 1 1. 

The bookkeeper’s thrust had been successful. Herr 
Claudius started and stood looking in blank dismay- 
after the old man’s retreating figure until it vanished in 
the thicket. 

I took advantage of this moment to try to slip away; 
but at the first rustle that I made, Herr Claudius turned 
towards me. 

“ Stay one moment,” he said, extending a detaining 
arm. “ The old man is greatly agitated ; I should not 
like to have you encounter him again just yet.” 

He spoke with as much composure and as kindly as 
ever. Why not confess to him now — now that we were 
alone — the truth about the ghost in the sealed apart- 
ments? No, I could not; I had no confidence in him: 
his presence always chilled me. My whole soul went 
forth to meet Charlotte’s generous nature, but I could not 
sympathize in the least with this cold, calculating man ; 
his reserved, sedate bearing, his disapproval of any pos- 
sible exaggeration, either in himself or others, was odious 
to me. What he had just said, to be sure, sounded like 
genuine Christian charity warm from the heart, and as 
such I should have regarded it in another ; but from his 
lips, those words were to me only the utterances of cold, 
passionless intellect. He had come to my rescue, but, 
childish as I was, I could see perfectly that he had done 
so only to shield me from the insolence of his subordinate. 
I was altogether too enthusiastic a pupil of Charlotte’s not 
to coincide with her entirely in her estimate of this man. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS, 


169 


Now, however, I obeyed him, and waited patiently 
until the heavy tread of the bookkeeper was no longer to 
be heard. Mechanically I brushed up a little heap of 
sand at my feet with the toe of my boot, which was thus 
displayed iu all its clumsy proportions ; but I was not 
annoyed, — it was only Herr Claudius who saw it. 

“ I will go and close the gate.” I interrupted the 
momentary silence, remembering that it was still wide 
open. I wanted to ask pardon for my presumption, but 
I could not bring myself to do so. 

“ Come, then,” he said. “ 1 cannot see how you man- 
aged to stir that rusty lock with those little hands.” 

“ The child,” I said, with a smile at the remembrance 
of the lovely little creature, — “ I wanted so much to see 
the child and the people who seem so happy together. I 
never knew what it was to have parents love their little 
children so much.” 

“ But how could you see what was going on in the 
family ?” 

Quite at my ease, I pointed up into the boughs of the 
elm-tree by which we were passing. “ I sat up there 
and looked.” 

He smiled slightly, and, in spite of the spectacles, I saw 
him look down at my skirt. My glance followed his, 
and, oh, dear ! what a rent the sharp boughs of the elm- 
tree had made in my new black dress ! I felt myself flush 
crimson ; I was ashamed that even Herr Claudius should 
see it. 

“ Oh, heavens, — Use !” was all i could stammer. 

“Never mind; Frau Use shall not scold; we will not 
have it !” he said, kindly, but in the tone he would have 
used towards little GJ-retchen. It vexed me ; I was not 
as little and helpless as all that. I could not avoid think- 
ing how different Dagobert was ; he treated me like a 

15 


170 T1IE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 

grown-up person, especially since he had heard that I 
was to be presented at court. “Frau Ilse has already 
taken measures to replace it,” Herr Claudius continued. 
“ She procured the money for your court toilet from me 
yesterday, which reminds me to call your attention to a 
slight matter. As long as Frau Ilse is with you she can 
manage your affairs, but when she leaves you, I must 
request you to apply directly to myself.” 

“ Must I ?” I asked, at no pains to conceal my annoy- 
ance. 

“ It must be so, Fraulein von Sassen, for the sake of 
regularity.” 

“ My dear grandmother was right, then, in detesting 
money. What a terrible fuss there is in transferring a 
few thalers from one hand to another !” 

He looked at me with a smiling, sidelong glance. “ 1 
will make it as easy as possible for you,” he said, kindly. 

“ But I must come to your gloomy room for every 
groschen that I want?” 

“ True ! Is that room so odious to you ?” 

“ All the other house is cold and gloomy. How can 
Charlotte and Fraulein Fliedner endure it ? I should die 
of fright and despair.” I involuntarily clasped my hands 
upon my breast. 

“ Terrible old house that it is, — it has already imperilled 
one woman’s life,” he murmured, with a faint smile ; “ and 
T t is the cause of your dislike to stay among us ?” 

“ Oh, I love the flower-garden dearly !” I exclaimed, 
without answering his interrogatory directly. “ It is like 
a book of fairy-tales. Sometimes I have to shut my 
eyes tight, and restrain my hands and feet, or I should 
throw myself down in the midst of one of those gorgeous 
flower-beds.” 

4t Why not do it ?” he said, with gentle composure. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


171 


I looked at him in surprise. “Why, think how you 
would scold 1” escaped my lips. “ The price of so many 
bouquets lost 1 and, heavens, such millions of seeds !” 

He turned away, closed the gate by which we were 
standing, and took the key out of the lock. 

“ This wisdom, as to the price of bouquets, comes from 
the same source, I suppose, whence you learned about 
the back office ?” he remarked, putting the key in his 
pocket. 

I did not reply. I could not mention Dagobert’s name. 
He had taught me “this wisdom,” as Herr Claudius called 
it, with a slightly bitter intonation. He did not press for 
an answer. 

“ But the Karolinenlust, and the forest here, you do 
not like at all?” he asked. 

“ It is all very lovely, but ” 

“ But not half so lovely as upon the moor, eh ?” 

“I can’t say that, — but — I long so for the Dierkhof! 
Sometimes I suffer so with longing that I could dash my 
head against all these trees I” The complaint came 
from me involuntarily. No one else had ever asked 
me the question. They all seemed to think I must be 
delighted with the exchange. 

“ Poor child !” he said ; but no, no, it was not sym- 
pathy, — nature had gifted him with a very gentle voice. 

We entered the parterre on one side of the Karolinen- 
lust. There stood old Erdmann, who had wished to re- 
fuse Use and myself admittance to the other house upon 
the first day of our arrival. He held a basket, from which 
he was scattering upon the gravel-walk food for the birds. 
Herr Claudius walked hastily towards him and restrained 
his right hand, that was just about to fling abroad a huge 
quantity of grain. 

“ You scatter it much too prodigally, Erdmann,” he 




172 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


said. “ The birds cannot possibly devour all the grain 
you give them, and it annoys me greatly to see it spring* 
ing up everywhere among the shrubbery.” He took the 
basket and let the grains run through his slender fingers. 
u This is nothing but wheat. I cannot have this reckless 
waste, Erdmann ; you know how I detest it. Think how 
many poor children are starving for the food that you 
thus fling away.” 

I was disgusted to hear him justify his avarice thus. 
He did not remonstrate because he wanted the price that 
the grain would have brought him, — oh, no ! — but at the 
thought of the bread that might have been made of it for 
hungry children ! 

Old Erdmann gave as his excuse that there was not a 
grain of barley in the house, and withdrew into the 
shrubbery with the air of a scolded school-bov. Oh ! 
how those odious blue glasses glared after him ! I 
would not look at them, but turned my face away, and 
mechanically plucked at the bush nearest me, scattering 
its leaves upon the gravel at my feet. 

“ What has that poor chocolate plant done to you ?” 
asked Herr Claudius’s voice at my side. It was as gentle 
again as if it could not scold. “ Suppose that one of those 
leaves that you are so wantonly plucking off should be 
capable of a throb of the home-sickness that you feel ” 

I stooped and hurriedly picked up all the leaves, laying 
them in a little heap on the cool sod at the root of their 
parent stem, in the shade of a leafy twig. “ At least they 
shall die in their home,” I said, constrained against my 
will to look up at the spectacles again. 

“ Shall you be able to endure it here ?” he asked. 

“I must — I must be educated, and that will take two 

years,” — and I clasped my hands with a sigh, “two 

long years 1 But there is no help for it, — I know myself 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


173 


that I ought to learn something, — I was so terribly 
ignorant on the moor ! Little Gretchen knows more 
than IP 

He laughed gently. “ There is, I acknowledge, some 
necessity for this period of learning and longing, when 
I remember how hard it comes to your little hand to 
write your own name. Much may be learned in two 
years; but your father, and perhaps others, would be sorry 
to have you acquire the worldly knowledge that is too 
apt to come with life in a large capital. Frau Ilse re- 
quested me yesterday to oversee your pursuits and 
progress.” 

I was terrified. This I would oppose with every nerve 
of my body. I certainly would not, if I could possibly 
help it. subject myself to the intolerable yoke beneath 
which Dagobert and Charlotte languished. Strangely 
enough, however, I could not summon the courage on 
the moment to say this to him. 

“ I do not know what Ilse means. Fraulein Fliedner 
undertook to do that long ago, and Charlotte, too,” I 
added, with hesitation. “ And I love Charlotte so dearly, 
it will be easy to obey her.” 

“ That is just what must be avoided,” he rejoined, 
gravely. “ You will do well in Fraulein Fliedner's hands, 
but Charlotte has far too much in herself that needs 
training to be a safe guide for you. If she is to exert 
unbounded influence over another, she should be a 
model of all that is excellent, and that she certainly 
is not. Hers is a noble nature, but there is alloy in it. 
I see I shall often have to come between you with a 
warning.” 

If there had ever existed in me a particle of liking for 
this man, these words would have destroyed it. He 
was taking his revenge for Charlotte’s gossip about the 
15 * 


174 TI1E LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


back office. Yes, I knew it well; here was just the sly, 
deceitful manner that so irritated Dagobert. And Ilse 
could resign me without a word to the guidance of this 
stiff, formal reckoning-machine 1 He would imprison me 
within four walls, set me tasks, in writing especially, and 
those odious glasses would pry into everything that I 
did. 

Meanwhile we had entered the hall, and were standing 
at the opening of the corridor that led to my room. Herr 
Claudius took off his glasses and put them in his pocket. 
Although he was Herr Claudius, whom I detested, he 
certainly had remarkably fine eyes ; they affected me like 
the cloudless sky at noonday, that stretches above us 
soft and mild, and yet if we attempt to gaze into it 
steadily, our eyelids droop beneath its glowing fire. 

I was silenced ; those glasses had been my bulwark ; 
with their departure my courage fled. Just then the 
gravel outside crunched beneath approaching footsteps. 

“ I don’t mean to offend, Fraulein,” I heard Ilse say in 
the distance ; “but I think it a disgusting habit. Such 
a charming young lady smoking like a chimney!” 

“ Oh, you are afraid lest tobacco-smoke should spoil 
the brilliant pansies on your bonnet, Frau Ilse,” laughed 
Charlotte. 

“Nonsense; that is not it at all! But I tell you 
truly, that if I thought the child would ever put such a 
thing as that between her lips, I would pack up this 
moment ” 

She stopped, for she had reached the hall-door and saw 
us. Charlotte, who was at her side, had a cigarette be- 
tween her cherry lips, and her smiling face was ob- 
scured by a cloud of smoke that she had just puffed out 
in defiance of Ilse. At sight of Herr Claudius she started, 
and, with a deep blush, hastily took the cigarette from her 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


175 


mouth. I laughed ; the ease and grace with which she 
managed the cigarette made her all the more interesting 
to me. 

Herr Claudius did not seem to observe her. 

“ You are right ; do not permit it, Frau Ilse,” he said, 
composedly. “ The tobacco-smoke will not harm your 
bonnet, but it is destruction to the delicate bloom of femi- 
nine grace.” 

Charlotte hurled the cigarette into the little lake. 

“Have you attended to those invitations, Charlotte ?” 
he asked, as quietly as if he did not see the passion that 
flamed in her eyes. 

“Not yet. Erdmann will take them this evening ” 

“ Do not forget to send one to Helldorf.” 

“ Helldorf, uncle ?” she asked, with a stammer, as if 
she could not trust her ears, and again she blushed 
deeply. 

“ Yes, I want him to dine with us to-morrow. Have 
you any objection to the arrangement ?” 

“ Not the least, — only it is new to me,” she replied, 
hesitating. 

He lightly shrugged his shoulders, courteously lifted 
his hat, and ascended the stairs. He did not enter the 
library ; I heard him open a door above. 

“ Is the world suddenly turned upside-down ?” asked 
Charlotte, who stood motionless, her arms dropped at her 
sides, until the last sound of the opening and closing door 
died away. “ Good heavens, what a row there will be ! I 
am greatly mistaken if Eckhof does not salt our soup well 
for us to-morrow.” 

“ Why, what business has the old bookkeeper in the 
kitchen ?” Use cried, irritably. She was thoroughly tired 
of the indefatigable psalm-singer. 

“My dear Frau Ilse,” laughed Charlotte, “let me tell 


176 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


you something. In the business firmament of the firm 
of Claudius there circles a mock sun — Herr Eckhof 
Uncle Erich, to be sure, does as he pleases, but he pays 
such respect to the sagacious counsel of the worthy book- 
keeper, that the modest mock sun is all-powerful. How, 
Eckhof is Helldorf ’s mortal foe, justly or unjustly I do 
not know, and do not in the least care, for I am not ac- 
quainted with the man, — no, not at all. I only know 
that up to this moment Helldorf has never set foot in 
the drawing-room of the Claudius house, and this simply 
because Herr Eckhof did not desire it. Suddenly he is to 
be invited to a dinner that Uncle Erich gives to-morrow 
to a couple of business friends from America. Eckhof 
will be raging, and invoke the judgment of the Lord upon 
the entertainment, for Uncle Erich confers upon Helldorf 
an honour that is usually accorded only to bald-headed 
respectabilities, or business celebrities. 1 tell you the 
world is turned upside-down, and it would not at all sur- 
prise me if those marble individuals,” she pointed to the 
group in the centre of the pond, “were to arise, and with 
profound bows assure us that we are very pretty girls.” 

I laughed, of course, and even Ilse smiled grimly. 

“ What is Herr Claudius doing in the upper story ?” I 
asked, vexed that “ the tradesman,” as my father called 
him, should intrude upon the realm of science. 

“ He is rummaging among his spy-glasses, I suppose. 
Did you not observe the two excrescences on the roof of 
the Karolinenlust ? One is the dome of the cabinet of 
antiquities, and the other Uncle Erich has fitted up as an 
observatory. Now, does not that really look as if he had 
some refined tastes ? Don’t be misled, though, for pity’s 
sake : he is always himself ; he numbers over the golden 
orbs in the skies just as he counts the shining thalers 
on the huge office-table.” 


T1IE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


177 


She drew out of her pocket a little package. “ And 
now for why I came. Here are the stockings, a dozen, 

that I ordered for you from R ; they came last night, 

and to-morrow the dressmaker will bring your dress.” 

“ Don’t let them cheat you, Fraulein ; there’s never a 
dozen there 1” cried Ilse, weighing in her large hand the 
package, that was about the size of a single pair of those 
she used to knit. She tore off the paper, and a delicate 
fabric appeared. 

“ Oh, vastly fine, indeed !” she said, angrily. “ The 

child is then to go half barefoot in K , too ! Such 

elegant articles will never even get as far as the wash- 
tub ; the first walk taken in them will fit them for the rag- 
bag. Oh, my poor mistress’s money !” She walked 
quickly away to our sitting-room. 

“Never mind what she says, child,” said Charlotte, in 
her most resolute tone. “ I never wear any others year 
out, year in, let Fraulein Fliedner wrinkle her little nose 
at what she calls my extravagance as much as she pleases. 
I have a peculiarly sensitive Parisian skin, and you 
must dress according to your station, and there’s an end 
of it!” 

She left me, and I followed Ilse in some trepidation. 
She had laid aside her bonnet and hymn-book, and was 
standing with a flushed face in front of the flower-stand 
in my room. It looked wretchedly neglected. I had 
never cared much for the flowers, and did not water 
them regularly, although Ilse strictly enjoined it upon 
me to do so. The splendid plants were drooping their 
thirsty blossoms. 

Ilse did not speak, but pointed to the evidences of my 
neglect. A spirit of antagonism and defiance took pos- 
session of me. 

" What do I care for the stand ?” I cried, with a pout 
M 


178 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


il 1 can’t see why I should trouble myself about the 
flowers. I didn’t ask Herr Claudius for them: why did 
he have them put here ? Let him see that they are at- 
tended to I” 

“ Oh, go on, — better and better !” she said, dryly. “ Lace 
on your feet and a thankless heart. Lenore, you will 
never come back to the Dierkhof, — and I will not have 
you 1” 

With a loud cry I threw myself upon her breast: her 
words pierced me like a dagger. 

“ A little dove your grandmother called you,” she 
went on, inexorably, — “ a charming little dove ! If she 
had known you, she would have called you ” 

“ A fiend,” I angrily completed the sentence, disgusted 
with myself. “ Yes, Ilse, that is what I am, — I have a 
bad black heart, but I did not know it, and now it is 
always tormenting me.” 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

The next morning my father told me that the Princess 
Margarethe desired my attendance at six that evening. 
In the course of the day a footman also appeared with a 
message for myself to the same effect; the Princess evi- 
dently put no faith in my father’s memory. During the 
last twenty-four hours he had been more absent-minded 
than ever. A very elegantly-dressed gentleman with a 
small box under his arm had paid him a visit in the 
library on the previous day, a visit of considerable length, 
and when my father afterwards went to the Duke as 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


179 


usual, he forgot to bid me good-by. I heard him going, 
and ran out into the hall, when I noticed that his cheeks 
were flushed feverishly, his eyes shone strangely, and his 
hair was in disorder. 

At our noonday meal he ate but little ; I was anxious 
and agitated, for I had a dread of the Princess, whom I 
could not but picture to myself in a gold brocade dress 
with a glittering crown upon her head, and I was puzzled 
by my father’s strange conduct. He did not eat, but 
played mechanically with his bread-crumbs, and gazed 
fixedly at nothing. He was apparently making up his 
mind to speak about something; now and then he looked 
with a keen, searching glance at Use, whose appetite 
appeared to be excellent, while she declared that there 
were no potatoes in the world as mealy as those at the 
Hierkhof, where the soil was so sandy. 

“ My dear Ilse, I want to ask you something,” my 
father suddenly began, and his words sounded hurried 
and forced, as if they were the result of a resolution 
formed on the instant and with difficulty. 

She looked up from her plate. 

“Did not you bring here with you some papers of value 
left by my mother ?” 

“Yes, Herr Doctor,” she replied, laying down her 
fork and evidently surprised. 

He drew from his breast-pocket an object carefully 
wrapped in paper ; his hands trembled and his eyes 
sparkled as he opened it, and showed us a very large and 
beautiful medal. 

“ Look here, Use, what do you think of this ?” 

“ Very pretty,” she replied, nodding her head ap- 
provingly. 

“ It is to be had ridiculously cheap. For three thousand 
thalers I can buy this exquisite medal, that is worth 


180 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


at least twelve thousand.” There was a kind of ecstasy 
in his usually placid face. “ It is the greatest piece of 
luck that has ever befallen me; I have had so many 
sacrifices to make in what I have purchased hitherto, and 
just now I have very little capital at my disposal. Dear 
Use, you would greatly oblige me if you would let me 
have three thousand thalers of the money in your hands. 
Lenore cannot possibly suffer, for I give you my word 
that the medal is worth at least three times as much as 
I shall pay for it.” 

“ Oh, yes, that may be all very true ; but would it bring 
as much ?” she asked, tapping the medal with her finger 
in a way that caused my father a nervous shudder. 

“ What do you mean ?” he asked slowly. 

“ Why, I mean, would it be taken in payment for as 
much as you mention ?” 

My father started as if she had stabbed him. 

“ No, Use,” he said, after a pause. “ You are not 
looking at the matter in a right light. Such an object 
as this cannot be paid away; it can only be sold again.” 

“ Oh ! — then the three thousand thalers are to be tucked 
away for show in a box, exactly like all that broken trash 
in the room up-stairs ! Not a morsel of food or a shoe 
for the child’s foot will it buy. I told you, Herr Doctor, 
that the money should not be touched 1 In Hanover, 
when I used to carry packet after packet stamped with five 
stamps to the post, until I could scarcely bear to see the 
money vanish so, my poor mistress used to say, ‘ Ilse, 
you cannot understand ; my son is a distinguished man, 
he must have it.’ And I was so stupid as never to see, 
Herr Doctor, why my mistress ought to impoverish her- 
self, selling all the old Jacobsohn silver, and her rings 
and chains and bracelets, because you are a distinguished 
man ; and I am just as stupid row: I cannot understand 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND ERIN CESS. 


181 


why the child should give up her little inheritance. I 
mean no offence, Herr Doctor, but it is just as if you 
poured all yoar money into a bottomless pit, for it 
is never seen again after it comes into your hands. It 
may be that one day when all your things are sold ” 

My father started to his feet. He could bear anything 
save the thought that his collection could ever fall into the 
hands of strangers. He stretched out both hands depreca- 
tingly to Ilse, who paused for a moment, and then con- 
tinued, with great composure : “ Besides, I have nothing 
further to do with the money, — you would not take charge 
of it, you know, Herr Doctor, and so I carried it to the 
other house the other day, and consigned it to Herr 
Claudius for safe-keeping.” 

Without wasting a word more upon the subject, my 
father wrapped the gold piece in paper again and put it 
in his pocket. His disappointment and depression went 
to my heart, but there was nothing to be done. Use’s 
whole manner testified to her great satisfaction at having 
placed the money beyond her reach. I shrank before her 
cold light eyes, and never ventured a word upon the 
subject after my father returned to the library. 

At four o’clock that afternoon the pretty housemaid, 
who was partly in Charlotte’s service, entered my room 
with a basket, from which she took a heap of transparent 
cloudy gauze, sprinkled with tiny black leaves. 

“ Fraulein Claudius sent me to try it on,” she said, 
while taking it from the basket ; and she went on to 
assure Ilse that it was such a day as she had never seen 
before in the other house. 

“ Only think,” said she, “with all those gentlemen 
coming to dinner, when we all had our hands full this 
morting, what do you suppose Herr Claudius suddenly 
took into his head? Why, that his counting-room upoD 
16 


I82 tiie little moorland princess. 

the courtyard is too gloomy and must be changed ! All 
our people could hardly believe their ears. Just imagine 
— the counting-room where all the Claudiuses have worked 
for more than a hundred years! No one ever dared to 
move a chair out of its place there, and now, all on a 
sudden, everything, the old crazy, worm-eaten pieces of 
furniture are carefully removed from the dark room to 
one that is bright and sunny, — they’ll hardly know them- 
selves ! And the upholsterer has hung the windows 
with green curtains to save Herr Claudius’s eyes. No 
one in the house can tell what it all means, but old Erd- 
mann looks very grave and quite pale about it ; he thinks 
the end of the world is at hand.” 

I listened with only half an ear. What did I care 
about Herr Claudius’s counting-room ? My eyes were 
devouring the exquisite articles that the speaker was lay- 
ing out upon the couch. Use, too, examined everything 
closely ; her fingers felt and twitched at the delicate ma- 
terial, much to my dismay, while she wondered “ how 
long it would wear.” But when at last the maid drew 
forth, from the bottom of the basket, an exquisitely small 
pair of black satin boots, and held them up before my eyes 
with a smile, Ilse left the room without a word. 

I must have grown very hard and cold, for I scarcely 
noticed her departure, except that a weight fell from my 
heart as the door closed after her. The moorland cobbler’s 
honest work flew to right and left immediately. Ilse 
was right ; in the “lace” and satin I felt barefooted again, 
as if the moorland breeze were playing about my feet. 
Then the maid immersed me in the clouds of gauze, and 
put a black velvet bow here and there ; the cloudy fabric 
was everywhere around my arms and shoulders, flowing 
from my waist to the tips of my satin boots, and I in the 
midst of it all! — I? I could not stay; I must run off 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


133 


instantly ! “ Stop, stop !” called the maid ; “ you are for- 

getting the bow for your left shoulder I” 

But I paid no heed to her ; I ran through the hall, 
across the bridge, and then through the flower-garden, 
while my light draperies floated about me as if I were en- 
veloped in a fleecy summer cloud. 

I was not the least afraid of the other house, that day. 
X ran up the winding staircase to Charlotte’s room. Old 
Erdmann was standing in the dim corridor as stiff and 
straight as a figure of wood, with a napkin in his hand. 
He opened his eyes wide in astonishment, and it seemed 
to me that he made a grasp at my dress, as if to detain 
me, as I fluttered past him ; but what did I care for the 
old bear ? — I rushed into the room without stop or stay. 

The windows here looked out over the courtyard and 
garden, and although the room was hung with gloomy 
brown damask, it was the most cheerful in the house. A 
magnificent grand piano stood against the wall, opposite 
the door, and Charlotte was sitting at it with her hands 
resting on the keys, as if about to play. Near her sat 
Fraulein Fliedner in pearl-gray silk, and a blonde cap, and 
I saw no one else. 

“ Oh, Fraulein Charlotte !” I cried, “ only look at me ! 
What do you think of this ?” And I raised one of my 
hanging sleeves. “ Are they not like wings, — real wings ? 
Oh, and the shoes, — you really must see the shoes !” I 
raised my skirt and let the light play upon my satin boot. 
“No more of that horrid ‘ clump, clump,’ that my old 
hob-nailed shoes made. Listen ! there is not a sound 
when I walk.” And I marched up to her like a soldier. 
“ Herr Eckhof could not call me an oddly-attired child 
now, could he ?” 

“ No, little moorland Princess, — no !” she cried. “ Who 
would have dreamed that the dark chrysalis contained 


184 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


such a butterfly ?” And she laughed, — laughed immod- 
erately, while even Fraulein Fliedner held her handker- 
chief before her mouth and gazed smiling past me, — at 
the wall, I thought. 

“ Have you looked in the glass yet?” asked Charlotte. 

“ Of course not ; I have had no time, and where is the 
use ? I can see the dress and the shoes perfectly well 
without looking in the glass.” 

“ Oh, but you must just look at yourself once.” She 
laughed, and pointed towards the long mirror that 
stretched from floor to ceiling, between the windows. I 
ran up to it and stood, unsuspicious, before it ; then 
uttered a cry, and buried my face in my hands. Good 
heavens ! I had entirely forgotten the dinner-party that 
I had heard of, and here I was in the midst of it. Be- 
hind me, opposite the mirror, there was a door, which I 
had always seen closed, leading into large reception-rooms. 
Now this door was open, and upon the threshold stood 
Pagobert, — his laughing brown eyes encountered mine. 
Red gleamed from beneath his chin, and there was a 
glitter of gold on his breast and shoulders ; he was in 
uniform. Behind him were a number of gentlemen smil- 
ing with amusement, and, beside an elderly man upon 
a corner divan, sat Herr Claudius. All this I took in at a 
single glance. Tears of mortification and shame rushed 
to my eyes. Two cool, soft hands gently drew mine 
away from my face. Herr Claudius was standing beside 
me. 

“ You are startled, Fraulein von Sassen,” he said. 11 It 
was but a sorry jest of Charlotte’s, which she must beg 
you to forgive.” He led me to an arm-chair, and I sank 
down among the cushions. 

“I am sure you will apologize,” he said, turning to 
Charlotte 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


1S5 


“ On the instant, my dear uncle !” She sank upon her 
knees before me and seized my hand. “ Let your High- 
ness look in mercy upon a miserable sinner,” she entreated, 
with comic pathos. “ I sue for forgiveness, but only from 
you, little moorland Princess. I claim gratitude from 
every one else for prolonging such enjoyment for a mo* 
ment.” 

I had to laugh, although my eyelashes were wet with 
tears. How could she dare to fall upon her knees so 
charmingly before every one ? I wanted to creep into 
some mouse-hole. She passed her hands caressingly 
through my curls, arose, and reseated herself at the piano. 

She played with great execution ; the instrument fairly 
groaned beneath her touch. I wished the tones could 
have sounded abroad over my wide moorland ; these walls 
re-echoed them too piercingly. But I thanked the music 
from my very soul, — it diverted the attention of all present 
from myself ; and after I had been buried motionless in 
the arm-chair for awhile, I ventured to raise my eyes 
once more. 

The first person whom I saw was the old bookkeeper, 
who was sitting in a recessed window, half hidden by 
the curtain. Charlotte had said truly, “ he was raging.” 
On the previous day his anger had been quite majestic, 
sublime. He had stood forth like a prophet, and the de- 
nunciatory pathos in his look and tone had really awed 
me. But at present he was nothing* more than a very 
angry man, at pains to suppress the manifestation of his 
irritation. His left hand, with its costly rings, was 
clinched as it rested on the window-sill, the handsome 
outline of his severe classic profile was marred by the 
depression of the corners of the mouth, and every one 
present seemed to have incurred his displeasure, for he 
sat with his back turned to the rest of the company. The 
16 * 


18 G 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


object of his special dislike, young Helldorf, stood leaning 
against the door by which I had entered, — a most grate- 
ful and attentive listener, surely, for his eyes were 
riveted, as in fascination, upon the performer. He evi- 
dently did not concur in the opinion of Herr Claudius, 
who, whenever a deafening crescendo thundered forth 
beneath those strong, shapely hands, gloomily contracted 
his brows and slightly shook his head, as if in disapproval; 
he was playing the connoisseur here too, then, the — 
tradesman 1 

I suddenly felt a slight impulse given to my chair, and, 
turning, saw Dagobert at my side, his elbows propped 
familiarly upon the arms of my refuge. As I turned, he 
looked full and earnestly into my eyes, leaned forward, 
and, under shelter of the crashing chords, whispered in 
my ear, “ Are you going to the Princess this afternoon ?” 

I nodded assent. 

“ Then spare one thought for me in the paradise that 
you are to enter, — I entreat you I” 

I fairly grew dizzy. Those whispered tones, so soft 
and fervent, moved me strangely. Could I grant a favour 
to this young Tancred, who had seemed so unapproach- 
able by me upon my moor, — who now stood like a king, 
in his beauty and military rank, among all these trades- 
folk? The blood throbbed up to my temples, but I 
bowed my head upon my breast. I was proud and happy, 
but I would not let others see that I was so. 

When the music ceased and the customary thanks had 
been uttered, the assemblage broke up. Helldorf came 
to take leave, but Herr Claudius gave him a sign, and I 
heard him say, in an undertone, to the young man, “ Do 
not go yet ; I want to hear you sing ; they tell me you 
have a charming baritone.” 

In the slight confusion attendant upon the departure of 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


1 SI 


the guests, I slipped into the adjoining room, hoping to 
find there some door of egress upon the passage. My 
whole behaviour, in bursting so unexpectedly upon the 
company, had been too ridiculous. I could not bear the 
thought of Charlotte’s raillery, and felt that I would 
rather avoid her for the rest of the day. 

Next the room into which I slipped was the large 
dining-room, and here an open door led into the corridor, 
where old Erdmann was pacing to and fro like a sentry on 
guard. The table, in the middle of the room, and the 
sideboards were ablaze with silver ; but I hardly saw it. 
I paused, spell-bound, before a picture upon the wall. 

This, then, was the “gorgeous officer,” as Charlotte 
had called him, looking down upon me from out the 
heavily-carved gilt frame, — a proud, handsome man, the 
full lips smiling with love of life’s joys and the conscious- 
ness of certain success. And had that white hand, rest- 
ing with such unstudied grace upon the table by his side, 
really shattered the smooth brow by a single pressure 
upon the deadly trigger? Had the terrible deed been 
done in the Karolinenlust ? Had my foot, perhaps, 
crossed the very threshold where the crushed head of 
that man had lain ? Heinz had often assured me, with a 
shudder, that suicides “ could find no peace in their graves, 
but walked o’ nights !” Suppose he were really to glide 
through the sealed apartments at midnight, down the 
dim, narrow staircase, and noiselessly push aside the ward- 
robe beside my bed I almost shrieked with horror, 

and turned away from the brilliant eyes, whose gaze 
seemed to follow me, just as Herr Claudius entered 
the room, apparently in search of some one. Forgetting 
all shyness, I pointed towards the picture and asked, 
earnestly, — 

“ Was the terrible deed done in the Karolinenlust ?” 


188 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


He recoiled ; his cheeks flushed, and his eyes shot fire. 

“ Hush, child, — hush l” he said, gloomily. “ I must re- 
strain all these wayward tongues.” He stood silent for 
a moment, gazing up at his brother’s face. “No,” he 
said then, gently, “ not in the Karolinenlust. Has that 
thought troubled you ?” 

“ I — I am so afraid of ghosts, and so is Heinz, and Ilse 
too, only she will not confess it.” 

He smiled sadly. “I, too,” he said, “sometimes see 
ghosts that I dread, — now more than ever.” I could not 
tell whether he spoke in jest or earnest. “You go to 
court this evening ?” 

I laughed to myself. Dagobert had asked me the same 
question. 

“Yes,” I replied, “ and I must hurry; we ought to be 
at the castle at six o’clock.” 

But as I was hastily leaving the room he gently de 
tained me. 

“ Do not forget yourself, and let the air of the court 
bewilder you,” he said, with strange emphasis, lifting a 
warning forefinger. It was odd, but for the first time his 
voice went to my very heart. Pshaw ! fine advice this 
from a man who thought only of himself! How different 
from Dagobert’s entreaty! 

I shook my head and ran down-stairs. What a sermon 
I should have had from Ilse if she had seen that way- 
ward shake of the head ! 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


189 


CHAPTER XIX 

I found the maid still in my room. She took posses- 
sion of me, fastened on the missing bow, and placed a 
little white straw hat upon my curls. 

I cast a glance towards the mirror, and suddenly dis- 
covered that my hair, that had always been to me an 
abomination, curled in really charming short black curls, 
and contrasted wonderfully well with the white ribbons 
of my hat. Use’s sharp eyes detected me at this com- 
placent self-survey. I saw her hard face, with its ruddy 
cheek bones, appear beside my head in the mirror. 

“ Have you done admiring yourself?” she asked. “ No 
honest girl spends her time before the looking-glass to 
see if her nose is set straight in her face. Do you know 
it’s a sin ? If my poor mistress had taken away every 
looking-glass from Christine, all would have been different. 
I will turn round the glass before I go away, so that you 
may remember it.” 

There was no need. I could not see the sin of looking 
in the mirror, for God had given me my face and figure ; 
but it was certainly ridiculous to ogle my own reflection. 
I blushed as if I had said something very silly. 

The maid withdrew with a glance of compassion at 
bearing me so sharply taken to task, and I went up to the 
library for my father. 

As I stood outside the door, I heard him walking 
quickly to and fro, and talking. I supposed that there 
was somebody with him, and opened the door very softly. 
He was quite alone, but evidently much agitated. He 
was restlessly pacing the room, now and then running 


190 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


his fingers through his hair. Sometimes he would pause, 
and taking from the table the gold coin that he had 
shown to Use at dinner, examine it as if his gaze would 
penetrate the glimmering metal, and then lay it down 
with a profound sigh, strike the table with his clinched, 
bony fist, and begin again his pacing to and fro. He did 
not notice me, although I waited some minutes in the 
room. 

“ Father, what is the matter V 1 I timidly asked at 
last. 

He started and turned towards me. At the first glance 
he did not recognize me in my changed dress ; I laughed 
and ran up to him. His flushed, gloomy face grew 
brighter, and a pleased smile flitted across it like a sun- 
beam. 

“ Why, it is Lorchen ! What a pretty little maid you 
are 1” he cried. He took both my hands and looked me 
all over from head to foot. What gratitude I felt towards 
him for sparing, amidst his scientific studies, some 
thought for my small self! 

“ Shall we go now, father ?” I asked, summoning all 
my courage, as I smoothed his ruffled locks, and tied his 
satin cravat beneath his chin. “ Perhaps the Princess is 
waiting ! Oh, how my heart beats !” 

“ I am expecting a gentleman whom I am to present 
to the Duke,” he said, briefly, without noticing my 
last exclamation, and every ray of cheerfulness vanished 
from his face. He began to walk to and fro again, 
and in a few moments his hair was once more all in 
disorder. 

“ Will you not tell me what is troubling you ?” I asked, 
beseechingly. 

He was just passing me with his hands clasped behind 
him. “ Oh, my child, I cannot tell you 1 I could not 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


191 


make you understand. It was too hard to-day with 
Use,” he said, almost impatiently, as he walked on. 

I would not be so repulsed. “ It is quite true,” I said, 
frankly, “ that I have grown up on the moors terribly 
stupid. But who knows ? I may be able to understand 
more easily than you think. Just try me !” 

He smiled, but there was no mirth in his smile, and in 
some confusion he picked up the coin and held it out to me. 
“ Well, then, see here 1 This is immensely rare ; it is 
called a medal. I have none like it in my collection, be- 
cause until now I have never been able to find one.” 
With sparkling eyes he held it towards the light 
“ Superb ! the impression is almost perfect ! The gentle 
man whom I am now expecting, has these coins for sale, 
— genuine, priceless specimens. Do you understand, my 
child ?” 

“Not all your words, father, but I see perfectly what 
you desire, — to retain possession of this gold coin at any 
sacrifice ” 

“ Child, I would give twenty years of my life to be 
able to buy it!” he interrupted me, with enthusiasm. 
“ But unfortunately it is out of my power, — in the course 
of an hour the Duke will have selected all the most valu- 
able coins for his collection, and I ” 

He paused, for the gentleman with the box under 
his arm, whom I had seen enter the library on the 
previous day, now appeared. I saw my father turn 
pale. 

“ Well, how is it, Herr von Sassen ?” he asked, upon 
entering. 

“ I — must deny myself ” 

“ Father,” I said, quickly, “I can get you what you 
want !” 

“ You, my child ? How can you do that ?” 


192 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ Leave it to me. I must have the coin, I must invest 
in 'it.’ 7 Oh, that Ilse could have seen how resolute and 
practical I could be 1 

My father smiled incredulously, but he clung even 
to this straw. He looked inquiringly at the gentleman, 
who bowed assentingly, wrapped the coin in paper 
and handed it to me. I put it in my pocket, where 
I held it tight in my hand, for I knew that it was price- 
less, and ran to the other house. 

I would implore Herr Claudius to give me three thou- 
sand thalers of my money; I would paint my father’s 
grief in such moving words that if he were not all marble 
he must be touched by the prayers of a daughter, 
whose only desire was to see her father happy. In 
fact, however, I never had had such a dread of him 
as at this moment, when, with an inward shiver, I 
entered as a suppliant the house that I had left with 
that wayward shake of the head a short time before. 
But it had to be done. I loved my father far too well 
not to be ready to make any sacrifice for him, even 
to the extent of confronting Herr Claudius in his 
strictest business mood. He had given me four hun- 
dred thalers for my aunt, why should he refuse me three 
thousand ? I would sign a receipt, and the affair would 
be concluded. 

Erdmann and a maid-servant were bringing down a 
tray of dishes as I went up the stairs. The door of the 
dining-room was wide open. If Herr Claudius were 
still in Charlotte’s room, I could perhaps attract his atten- 
tion without being seen by the others, — I wanted no 
witnesses at my interview with him. 

I was on the point of entering the next room, when 
the melody of two voices held me rooted to the spot in 
spite of the feverish haste I was in. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. [93 

"Oh, wert thou in the cauld blast 
On yonder lea, 

My plaidie to the angry airt, 

I'd shelter thee,” 

sang Charlotte and Helldorf. Through the doorway 1 
could see the two handsome figures standing side by side, 
while Dagobert sat at the piano playing the accompani- 
ment. 

Oh, the lea, my moor in a storm in spring ! When the 
blast came rushing over the Dierkhof threatening to 
shake its stout old rafters and crash in the window-panes ; 
when it tore off from the oaks and flung abroad in atoms 
every trace of the venerable foliage of the previous year ; 
when Use carefully closed all the doors, and the chickens 
sought shelter on the high rafters of the barn, — I used to 
run outside of the inclosure, upon the moor, and call 
aloud to the shadowy host that swept by on the wings 
of the blast. It was not like a storm in winter ; there 
were thousands of jubilant voices echoing abroad: the 
rushing of the water, exulting to be freed from icy chains ; 
the murmur of the forest instinct with reawakening life, 
where every maybell was ringing itself free from its 
brown blossom-covering. And I used to resign myself 
to the wind ; it would blow me across the moor like a 
floating oak-leaf, until half in glee, half in terror, I 
stood upon my favourite mound, and clasped my arms 
around my dear old fir-tree, that would tremble and 
totter, but yet stood firmly planted, and rustled its needles 
merrily, whilst I shouted aloud as the baffled clouds 
hurried on. My skirts fluttered around me, my hair was 
tossed about my brow and face, but I needed no plaidie 
to shelter me from this “angry airt;” my limbs grew 
like steel, and I would fight my way home again to 
N It 


194 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


upbraid Spitz for lying lazily in the warm corner by the 


“And should misfortune’s bitter storms 
Around thee blaw,” 

the pair sang on, and the tones swelled like the crescendo 
of the wind. I was intoxicated by them ; but I could 
yield to the spell not an instant longer, — down with all the 
sweet pain of dreams of home ! My father was pacing 
the library in agitation, and I hastily entered the next 
room. 

In the recess of a side window sat Herr Claudius 
entirely alone. His elbow rested on the arm of his chair, 
and his eyes and brow were covered by his hand. The 
thick, fair curls fell across the white fingers, — I shrank 
back. Even the pale lustre of his hair repelled me ; 1 
suddenly’ forgot every word of my heroic appeal; in his 
presence I only felt that he would refuse me, politely and 
gently, but so firmly that further entreaty would be im- 
portunity. Even now, when he sat there as if abstracted 
from the world and absorbed by the entrancing music, 
his head was full of accounts, and as soon as I mentioned 
three thousand thalers, he would smile slightly and say 
again, “You have evidently no idea how much money 
that is !” 

In spite of all this, I instantly stood beside him; how 
I got there I hardly knew myself. I leaned towards him 
and softly uttered his name. Heavens ! I did not mean 
to startle him ; my voice was weak and timid ; yet ho 
started as if the last trump had sounded in his ears. He 
sprang up and smiled — at his folly, of course — in allow- 
ing himself to be startled by the noiseless approach of 
such a tiny sprite as I. 

He was not angry, — that I could plainly perceive ; and 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


195 


yet I could not utter a word. If the ugly glasses had 
only covered his eyes, and the broad hat-britn shaded his 
face !— but all at once he looked so young out of those 
intense blue eyes. I felt utterly ashamed, and he did 
nothing to help me out of my embarrassment, — he stood 
silent, while they sang on, — 

“ Thy shield should bo my bosom 
To share it a’.” 

“ Do you wish to speak to me V 9 he said, in a low tone, 
when the song was concluded. 

“ Yes, Herr Claudius ; but not here.” 

He immediately led me into the adjoining reception- 
room, and closed both doors. 

With my eyes riveted upon a highly-polished diamond 
in the pattern of the floor, I began to speak, and the 
words and sentences that I had composed before, came 
back to me; I described my father’s anxiety to possess 
the coin, I told how it had deprived him of appetite, 
and how impossible it was for me to see him suffer, — 
impossible ! — and that, therefore, I must have the three 
thousand thalers at any sacrifice. And then I looked up 
at him. 

He stood exactly as he had done before his huge 
ledger in the counting-room, an image of calm attention 
and cool deliberation. 

“ Is this your own idea, or has Herr von Sassen ex- 
pressed a wish to withdraw this portion of your capital ?” 
he asked. How cold and icy was his voice in contrast 
with my burning tones, and how it irritated me ! But 
beneath the gaze of those clear eyes I could neither lie 
nor prevaricate, which last I am afraid that for one mo- 
ment I should have been very glad to do. 

“ My father expressed such a wish to Use to-day.” 


196 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“And she rejected such a proposal ?” 

I assented, dejectedly ; I knew my cause was lost. 

“ And has it not occurred to you, Fraulein von Sassen, 
that I have even less right or desire to give you this 
Bum V 1 

All my resolutions to rely upon humble entreaty, and 
not to lose patience when confronted with this shop- 
keeping calculation and composure, were forgotten ! My 
cheeks flushed, my “ evil heart got the better of me.” 

“ Of course it has,” I replied, hastily, pointing to the 
door. “ I stood there, and trembled with dread of you. 
But I love my father dearly, and am willing to undergo 
even this for his sake.” 

I stopped for a moment, but he answered not a word, 
— he was marble through and through then : all my fire 
was ineffectual. Could I help being angry ? I longed to 
stamp my foot. I turned my back upon him, and cried 
over my shoulder, “ I do not want the money now ! 
Preposterous ! that I should have to sue at a stranger’s 
hands for what my dear grandmother left me. But I shall 
most certainly never do so again. Never again will I 
ask you for anything, even although it is my very own, 
and I have a perfect right to use it ” 

“ At present you shall not use one penny of it !” he 
interrupted me, gravely, and with emphasis, but without 
a particle of anger. “ And let me tell you that the way- 
ward, violent child of the moor will never have any influ- 
ence with me. She may continue to climb trees and wade 
through brooks, there her wings shall not be clipped,— 
but the untutored instincts of her soul must be trained.” 

Then his iron grasp was actually closing upon me, and 
I should never be released until these two years of suf- 
fering were over 1 Heavens, what a wreck he would 
make of me ! 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 197 


“ That is as I please,” I said, with a toss of mj head. 
“ Heinz once told me of a raven that he had snared ; he 
tried to clip its wings, but the bird turned and bit his 
finger till it bled.” 

“And would you defend yourself as bravely, little 
moorland lark ?” he asked, looking down with a smile at 
his slender fingers. “ The peevish raven could not see 
that Heinz wished to make a pet of him. But let us dis- 
cuss that other matter further. I have as little right as 
you have to cast your property to the winds, but I am 
perfectly ready to advance the money to Herr von Sassen 
from my own funds. Did you not say that the possessor 
of the coin was with your father at this moment ?” 

Much mortified, I put my hand in my pocket and handed 
him the coin. 

“Ah, an imperial medal of the time of Antoninus, 
. — a beautiful specimen !” he cried. He took it to the 
window and examined both sides of it very carefully 
several times, as if he really understood something of 
such curiosities. 

“ Come,” he said, opening a door into a room to the 
right. The walls were hung with heavy silk damask 
curtains, and it was as dark here as in all the rooms in 
that huge wing. Near a window there stood a carved 
cabinet, black with age, and with hinges of delicately en- 
graved silver. 

Herr Claudius opened this odd piece of antique furni- 
ture and drew out a shallow tray, whereon lay rows of 
such medals as my father had told me were so rare, neatly 
arranged on dark velvet. He took up one of them, laid 
it upon his open palm beside the one I had just brought, 
and held them towards me. They were precisely alike, 
except that the one from the tray looked as if it had beea 
much longer in use. 


17 * 


198 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ This one is the prettier,” I said, pointing to the one 
that my father wished to possess. 

“ It certainly is,” he replied; “but I do not like it.” 

J ust then the door by which we had entered was opened, 
and Dagobert appeared upon the threshold. Herr Clau- 
dius knitted his brows, but the young man, nothing in- 
timidated, approached, and his brown eyes opened wide 
with surprise at the sight of the rows of coins. 

“Heavens, how fine!” he cried. “Why, uncle, are 
you a collector ?” 

“ To some extent, as you see.” 

“ No one has the least idea of it.” 

“ Why should I publish my whims to the world?” 

“ Oh, I don’t mean that,” Dagobert replied ; “ but just 
now, when the country is full of enthusiasm for antiqua- 
rian research, I cannot understand your silence on the 
subject.” 

“ Can you not ? Let me tell you, then, that I rarely 
find auy pleasure in what is everywhere admired and pur- 
sued simply because it is the fashion, — a fashion made to 
subserve ends of which science never could approve. 
Besides, I am always on my guard with these tastes o* 
mine ; such tendencies are apt to grow too strong for us, 
and when once we are in their power, nothing that they 
require seems unattainable, — nothing is safe from our 
greed for means to procure it.” 

“ Fortunately the frugality of your ancestors saves you 
from any danger in that direction, uncle,” laughed Dago- 
bert. He shook his head, “Incredible ! You profess an 
interest in the antique, and yet you have left that splen- 
did collection boxed up in cellars for so many years with- 
out touching it.” 

Herr Claudius lightly shrugged his shoulders. “ Per- 
haps you would think otherwise if you could see my 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


199 


grandfather’s will, wherein he expressed the wish that 
the collection should remain in concealment forever.” 

“ Indeed ! then Herr von Sassen may congratulate him- 
self that his request has prevailed against the time-hon- 
oured traditions of the house.” 

“Not so much his request as my own conviction that 
neither my grandfather nor myself had the right to lock 
up such treasures of art from the world,” was the calm 
reply. 

I was upon thorns during this conversation ; the pre- 
cious time was slipping away. To my relief, Dagobert 
went to the window to look after a carriage that was roll- 
ing past, and Herr Claudius, returning his coin to its place 
and closing the cabinet, gave me back the medal I had 
brought. 

“ I am very sorry to be obliged to retract my offer,” he 
said ; “ but, indeed, I cannot be accessory to the sale of 
this kind of coin, — the medal in your hand is not gen- 
uine.” 

Dagobert started, and turned round. 

“ Who wants to buy the coin ?” he asked. 

“Herr von Sassen.” 

“What, uncle! you declare a coin spurious that he 
considers genuine ? Pardon me ; I spoke involuntarily ; 
it was not courteous,” he added, instantly. 

Herr Claudius smiled faintly. “You only confirm my 
opinion that we outsiders ought, by all means, to consign 
our wisdom to the deepest retirement. To oppose our 
judgment to such an authority would be arrogant indeed.” 

He locked the cabinet and left the room. 

Dagobert went back to the reception-room with me. 
“ Impertinent !” he muttered between his teeth, just loud 
enough for me to hear, and then returned to his sister, 
while I ran back to my father. 


200 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


Yes, it was an impertinence to differ from my learned 
father. I rushed up the stairs of the Karolinenlust in the 
wildest agitation. 

“Well?” asked my father, eagerly, as I entered the 
library. 

“ Herr Claudius maintains that the coin is not genuine,” 
I said, in stifled accents. 

The strange gentleman burst into uncontrollable laugh- 
ter; he really seemed scarcely able to recover himself. 
My father shrugged his shoulders contemptuously. “ A 
tradesman’s wisdom!” he ejaculated; “the less one has 
to do with such people the better.” 

He seized his hat, and offered me his arm. “ Let us 
go,” he said, in a resigned tone. 


CHAPTER XX. 

We walked hurriedly through the gardens ; my father 
forgot in a few moments that a timid girl was hang- 
ing upon his arm, trying to keep pace with him, and 
whirled along like a snowflake by his side. He talked 
uninterruptedly with the strange gentleman, and their 
conversation was unintelligible to me, — full of long words 
that reminded me of the old Professor at the Hun’s grave. 

As we crossed the courtyard, Helldorffs magniflcent 
voice rang out upon the air ; he was singing alone. For 
a moment my father stayed his hasty steps in surprise. 
Until then, I had never cared to explore the precincts of 
the courtyard, — it was too sterile of interest ; but as we 
walked directly towards the door of egress in the wall, I 
glanced over at the long line of back buildings opposite 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


201 


me. Four windows upon the ground-floor were half open, 
the sills were very low, and I could see a crowd of young 
girls at work there with busy fingers, while at the window 
nearest me, one of them was trying on her own head a 
half-finished wreath of myrtle. 

That, then, was the back office with which Charlotte 
had threatened me, to my immense terror, on the first 
day after my arrival. It did not appear so forbidding, 
after all; it certainly was light enough, and the girls 
looked neat and well dressed. Their blonde and brown 
heads were motionless, listening to the music, — not a lip 
moved, when suddenly a dread took possession of the 
assemblage ; the foreheads bent over the tables before 
them, and the girl with the myrtle wreath gently closed 
the window nearest her, and turned towards the inte- 
rior of the room with a blush. A door within slammed 
to, and immediately afterwards the old bookkeeper’s 
scolding voice was heard. 

“ What a draught !” he said, his sonorous voice sound- 
ing clearly out in the courtyard in a pause of the music. 
“ Oh ! and so you have opened the windows that you 
may listen to the wily voice of the tempter, while your 
hands are folded in your laps ! Foolish virgins that you 
are, in your ears will one day sound the terrible, ‘ I know 
you not.’ It is better to listen to the reproof of the wise 
than to the songs of fools.” 

As he spoke, he shut one window after another, until 
not the smallest crack remained through which the worldly 
sounds could penetrate. He saw us passing, but haughtily 
overlooked us, and made no acknowledgment of his con- 
sciousness of our presence. 

How I pitied the poor young things in that back room! 
How cruelly their wings had been clipped ! Oh, yes, 
their “untutored instincts” had been “trained.” They 


202 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


were close prisoners witnout a will of their own. They 
bowed their heads without a word when they were even 
deprived of tlie sweet fresh air, lest the forbidden tones 
might reach their ears, and to that singer of morning 
hymns was assigned the office of their overseer. Ah, 
Herr Claudius, you would have more trouble with me ! 
I could run like a hare, and if I found no shelter for me 
here, some fine day I would return whence I came, — not 
exactly to the Dierkhof, perhaps, where Ilse would receive 
me with harsh words, but to the little clay hut upon the 
moor with green window-panes, where I could share 
Heinz’s porridge and fly laughing over the moor with 
unclipped wings. 

We had left the house upon the street, and were walk- 
ing through the dusty, ugly city, that I had hoped never 
to see again. It did not seem as terrible to me now as 
when it had been basking beneath the midday sun ; but 
this was a different walk from that first entrance of mine ; 
now I never encountered one scornful glance. Ladies 
passed us with a kindly look, as if the sight of me 
gave them pleasure. But what made me hold my head 
higher than all else, — made me carry myself with genuine 
pride, was the consideration that my father received from 
all who knew him. As he hurried on w r ith his careless 
bearing, his appearance certainly was not awe-inspiring, 
and yet stately officers bowed to him respectfully, and 
elegantly-dressed ladies, rolling by in gorgeous equipages, 
waved their hands to him as if he were their most valued 
friend. All this was accorded to the distinguished scholar 
whose learning was so profound. Every one did him 
homage except the tradesman in the “ other house,” — he 
knew far more than my father, of course ! 

I reflected discontentedly upon the scene with the 
coin, and what provoked me beyond all else was the im- 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND ERIN CESS. 


203 


pression that had been made upon myself. The man had 
actually stood there as if armed with conscious authority, 
as if his assertions rested upon foundations as solid as 
those of his old house of businsss, and — how irritating ! 
— even the brilliant officer, in all his beauty and elegance, 
had been entirely cast into the shade by the man in a 
plain black coat. What a metamorphosis ! He was the 
“ silent old gentleman” whom I had thought so insignifi- 
cant at the Hun’s grave upon the moor ! 

After a long walk, we reached the ducal castle. A 
lackey hurried on to announce our arrival, and while the 
coin-seller remained in a small anteroom my father con- 
ducted me through halls and corridors. Once more he 
ran his fingers through his hair before he pushed me 
gently over the threshold of the door which the footman 
held wide open. 

The momentous instant from which the unschooled 
child of the moor had shrunk in vain had now arrived 
My d£but was disgraceful ; Charlotte had shown me 
how I must courtesy, — but, good heavens! even Spitz 
performed the little tricks that Heinz taught him better 
than I my obeisance. My feet seemed glued to the 
spot where I stood. From beneath my drooping eye- 
lids I only saw a small piece of polished parquetted 
floor at my feet; the soft rustle of a silk dress fell on 
my ear ; and, just as I was picturing to myself amid 
hardly-repressed tears of angry shame how like a clumsy, 
stupid, wooden image I was, I heard the lovely tones 
of a woman’s gentle voice ; the Princess welcomed my 
father, and with a delicate finger touched my chin and 
lifted my face towards her. I looked up ; no jewelled 
crown was there to dazzle my eyes. I saw thick brown 
curls surrounding a fair and kindly face, and a pair of 
brilliant eyes, blue as my dear moorland butterflies, smiled 


204 THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 

down upon me. I knew that the Princess could not be 
young,— she was the aunt of the reigning Duke, and a 
contemporary of my mother ; so I supposed this tall, 
slender lady, with the delicate complexion and the finely 
cut, youthful profile, could not be the Princess Margarethe 
My father undeceived me. 

“Your Highness sees how much need there was to en- 
treat your utmost indulgence,” he said, and there was 
a shadow of laughter in his voice ; “ my shy little daisy 
hangs her head.” 

“ We will soon alter all that,” replied the Princess, 
smiling. “ I know how to get on excellently well with 
such timid little girls. Go, now, my dear doctor, the 
Duke expects you. I shall see you again at tea.” 

My father left the room, and I was thrown entirely 
upon my own resources within the dangerous atmosphere 
of a court. I now saw that the Princess was not alone : 
a few steps behind her stood a pretty young girl. The 
Princess presented us to each other, and I learned that 
she was a maid of honour, and her name was Constanze 
von Wildenspring. Before I had time to think, her 
graceful hands had relieved me of my hat, and I was 
seated opposite to the Princess, while the maid of honour 
busied herself with some embroidery, in a recess, partly 
hidden by the window curtain. 

How well the august lady understood how to deliver 
the “timid little girl” from the spell of shyness under 
which she suffered ! She told me Low she had often seen 

my mother at the neighbouring court of L ; what 

happy, merry days those had been ; how much talent and 
wit my mother had possessed, and what charming verses 
she used to make. Then she showed me a large book, 
bound in red morocco, containing the verses, and a 
drama that had been published shortly before her death 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


205 


Many a young girl in my place would have been elated 
to recall such memories upon her first appearance at 
court, but I was nothing of the kind ; I looked at the 
book with something like distress ; — it was the reason 
why the sunlight of a mother’s love had never illumined 
the first years of my life. Whilst the poetess had cher- 
ished and fostered the fanciful offspring of her brain in 
bright, airy rooms, the soul of her child had pined and 
languished within gloomy walls. 

Perhaps the Princess had some perception of this, for 
I told her that with all my trying I could not recall my 
mother’s face. She led me unconsciously to speak of my 
life upon the moor, — and the last trace of my shyness 
vanished. I began to narrate, and Heinz and Ilse, Molly 
and the chattering magpies in the oak boughs, all made 
their appearance in the elegant apartment ; the lonely old 
fir, too, rustled there in all its needles, and the water- 
spirits arose from the peat-swamp, and trailed their drip- 
ping garments across the moor, sunk in the silence of 
night. I pictured the snow-storms raging around the 
lonely Dierkhof, as I sat beside Heinz on the bench by 
the stove, while the apples roasting for our supper hissed 
and sputtered. 

How and then the pretty face of the maid of honour 
peeped around the curtain at me with a half-frightened ex- 
pression of contemptuous amazement, — but I was nothing 
daunted; the lovely large eyes of the Princess beamed 
brighter and brighter upon me ; she listened as attentively, 
I might almost say as breathlessly, as Heinz and Ilse 
when I read my fairy-tales aloud to them in the Fleet. 

Then I told of the lizards, the bees, and ants, — how 
they had been my playmates, and all their ways were 
known to me as perfectly as the domestic arrangements 
the Dierkhof. I confessed that I had loved all living 
18 


206 


TI1E LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


things, even the smallest and ugliest, just because they 
lived and breathed their life abroad into the deep soli- 
tude of the moor. I do not know how it happened, but 
suddenly the great Hun’s mound was woven into my 
story. I told how I used to sit there among the yellow 
broom, my hands clasped around my knees, and sing 
aloud into immeasurable space. 

All at once the Princess took both my hands, drew me 
towards her, and kissed my brow. 

“ I should like to know how that lonely, girlish voice 
sounded on the moor,” she said. 

For a moment the thought of how my voice would re- 
echo from these walls frightened me ; but there was a 
kind of glamour upon me, — had I not just been revelling 
in the life of my childhood ? I took courage, and sang a 
little song. 

Once in the midst of my singing I started, the maid 
of honour’s gray eyes gleamed and sparkled so from be- 
hind the silken curtain ; involuntarily I thought of the 
Dierkhof cat, watching with green, glimmering eyes, a 
poor twittering bird on the southernwood-tree, — but what 
did I care for the little lady’s watching ? I was not singing 
for her, and so my voice did not tremble, but I sang on 
bravely to the end. 

While I had been talking, two footmen had noiselessly 
arranged a tea-table in the apartment, and the last notes 
of my song had scarcely died away, when a gentleman 
in a black dress-coat entered. He made a profound bow., 
then stood erect and clapped his gloved hands with un- 
deniable grace. 

“Wonderful, your Highness 1 Mon Dieu, magnifiquel” 
ho cried, with ecstasy, coming eagerly, but with a noise- 
less tread, towards the Princess. “But how cruel to all 
of us, your Highness !” he added, in a reproachful tone, 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 207 

and his graceful arms fell by his sides. Elderly as he 
was, he adopted for the moment the childish manner of a 
pouting girl. “ For years we have implored upon our 
knees for one note of that nightingale voice — in vain I 
Only by lurking like a thief on the other side of your 
threshold is it possible to taste the enjoyment of which 
we have so long been deprived. What 1 do you call that 
a weak, ruined voice ? Those melting tones, that bell-like 
clearness, your Highness 1” 

He raised his eyes to heaven, and airily kissed the 
forefinger and thumb of his right hand. I was greatly 
astonished. Here was a species of human being as en- 
tirely unknown to me as if he had come from the Sand- 
wich Islauds. Had it not been for his deep voice and 
his carefully waxed moustache, I should have declared 
him to be a woman in disguise. 

“ My good Herr von Wismar,” said the Princess, sup- 
pressing her laughter, “ many years ago, it is true, I was 
sometimes guilty of the sin of boring a small audience 
with the sound of a weak voice faultily trained. You 
ought not to remind me of it, — I did all that I could to 
atone for it by soon giving up the practice. However, I 
am glad to see that my musical errors are forgotten, 
since our excellent chamberlain confounds my deep con- 
tralto with a clear soprano, — you have compared a spar- 
row to a nightingale Sidonie used to sing charmingly ; I 
never sang !” 

The old chamberlain was entirely confused. The long 
face that he made was very comical I thought, and I 
chuckled to myself, as when I used to puzzle Heinz. 

Fraulein von Wildenspring arose hastily at the last 
words of the Princess. She gave one malicious glance 
at my amused face, and then glided towards the tea-table. 

“ But, your Highness, your comparison is scarcely 


208 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


just,” she pouted, while she busied herself with the tea- 
service. “Although Herr von Wismar may have mis- 
taken the register of your voice, your Highness must 
have sung wonderfully. Countess Fernau is still wildly 
enthusiastic when she speaks of it.” 

“Alas, for me, Constanze,” laughed the Princess, “if 
she is your only witness. My good Fernau has been 
stone deaf for the last twenty-five years 1” 

“ But papa and mamma rave about it, too,” persisted 
the maid of honour ; but her eyelids drooped before the 
sarcastic expression with which this remark was received 
by the Princess. 

“ I pray you, Herr von Wismar, direct your eyes and 
your compliments to your right,” said the Princess, 
pointing to me. “ There sits the nightingale.” 

The gentleman turned round. Until then he had not 
seen me, for my small person was entirely hidden by a 
stand of flowers upon his right. The Princess mentioned 
my name, — I arose and returned his low bow by a laugh- 
ing courtesy so profound and sweeping that Charlotte 
would have been infinitely amused to have seen it. The 
elf of waywardness that had slumbered within me since 
my grandmother’s death began to stir, and gave me back 
all my ease of motion. 

Herr von Wismar instantly paid me various compli- 
ments, exalting my father’s simple “ daisy” into a rose- 
bud, an actual fairy, while he upbraided the “ dear 
doctor” for depriving the court of my enchanting pres- 
ence by keeping me so long “ en pension.” 

“ In what establishment were you educated, charming 
Fraulein von Sassen ?” he asked. 

“ In a moorland village, Herr von Wismar !” cried 
Fraulein von Wildenspring, with a smile of childlike 
innocence. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


209 


The chamberlain started ; but a glimpse of the smile 
with which the Princess regarded me, restored his 
equilibrium. “ That is what gives such vernal freshness 
to her voice. Country air, — yes, the country air ! Ah, 
your Highness, what an acquisition for our court con- 
certs 1 So modest, so unbreathed upon ” 

“ What an idea, Herr von Wismar 1” the maid of honour 
interrupted. “ It would be impossible for Fraulein von 
Sassen to compete with our charming prima donna. I 
should pity the poor child, indeed. ” 

“ Attend to your tea, Constanze ; I am afraid it will be 
bitter I” said the Princess. “And be under no alarm: 
we cherish such rare guests as the apple of our eye, — 
and I shall, if I can, reserve for myself the refreshing 
moorland breeze that has penetrated our sultry atmos- 
phere from the distant moorland village.” 

Fraulein von Wildenspring was silent. She turned to 
her tea-urn and poured out the first cup of tea so heed- 
lessly that the brown drops were sprinkled over the white 
damask cloth. 

“ And you are living with your father in the Claudius 
house?” the chamberlain asked me, hastily, as he ob- 
served the haughty glance that the Princess bestowed 
upon her awkward lady in waiting. Herr von Wismar’s 
role at court seemed to be that of a lightning-rod. 

“ We are living in the Karolinenlust,” I replied. 

“Ah, in poor Lothar’s apartments 1” he cried, in a 
compassionate tone, to the Princess. 

“ Oh, no indeed,” I eagerly corrected him, “ not in 
them. They are sealed up.” 

I saw a crimson flush suffuse the brow of the Princess. 
She had taken in both her hands a drooping cluster of 
clematis from the flower-stand at her side, and had buried 
the lower part of her face in it as if to inhale its perfume. 

0 18 * 


210 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ Still sealed up ? And why?” she asked the chamber- 
lain after a moment’s silence. “ Is not his brother solo 
heir ?” 

Herr von Wismar shrugged his shoulders. He assured 
her that he knew nothing of the matter ; the affair was 
quite forgotten ; the name of Claudius had lately been 
mentioned now and then at court since Herr von Sassen 
had discovered the antique curiosities in the merchant’s 
house. 

“ The seals are to remain upon the doors forever,” I 
said, timidly, remembering with shame my intrusion be- 
hind them, although I could not but give the Princess an 
answer to her question. “ The dead man desired that it 
should be so, and therefore Herr Claudius will not have 
a single seal touched, he is so strict, so terribly strict.” 

“ Why, that sounds as if you were afraid of him, my 
little lady,” laughed the chamberlain. 

“ I — afraid ? no, oh, no 1” I protested, with irritation. 
“ I am not in the least afraid of him, — not in the least ; 
but I cannot endure him,” I added; “ no one loves him ; 
no one in the whole world. Of course not ; for he cares only 
for two things, — hard work and his great thick ledger, 
Charlotte says. And he has flowers, — such quantities 
of flowers that he could bury himself and his ugly old 
house upon the street in them, but in the room where he sits 
at work late and early there is not a single green leaf. He 
takes out his watch, and scolds his people if they are a 
moment late in that detestable cage, and at night he ob- 
serves the stars only that he may count them as he does 
the thalers on his table. He is miserly, and never gives 
a poor man a penny ” 

“Hold, my child!” the Princess interrupted me, “I 
must contradict you there. “ The poor of our city have no 
better friend than Herr Claudius, though his manner of 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


211 


giving is somewhat eccentric, and his name never appears 
in connection with public charities.” 

I was amazed. “ But he is as hard and cold as an 
icicle to — to Charlotte,” I said, quickly, “ and he thinks 
he knows more than anybody else.” 

“ A terrible list of crimes 1” laughed the chamberlain. 
“Besides, the man has just shown that he really does 
know more than most people upon some points,” and he 
turned to the Princess. “ Our wise Count Zell was lately, 
to our great satisfaction, fairly duped. His Darling, which 
he purchased when last from home, is a miracle of beauty 
and grace, but a thoroughly vicious brute. Some people 
declare he must have been a circus horse, — he has such 
strange tricks. Zell was anxious enough to be rid of him 
again ; of course none of us would buy him, but out of 
regard for Zell we held our tongues. Young Lieutenant 
Claudius was in an ecstasy with him ; several good friends 
of Zell’s advised the young man to buy him, but his 
uncle, after seeing Darling, utterly refused to allow his 
purchase, much to the young man’s advantage, for an 
hour ago the brute threw the son of Tressel, the banker, 
an excellent rider, who purchased him, and I hear the 
fellow is badly trampled.” 

“ Your silence upon the subject out of regard for Count 
Zell, Herr von Wismar, seems to me most reprehensible. 
Let the Count look to himself when he next appears at 
court!” exclaimed the Princess, her large eyes fairly 
flashing with displeasure. “ Is the young man’s hurt 
likely to prove dangerous ?” 

“ Scarcely, I think,” stammered the chamberlain ; “your 
Highness must remember who the rider was, — rough 
constitution, rude temperament. A few scars and bruises 
are all there is to apprehend, I imagine.” 

“ You spoke just now of a Charlotte in the Claudius 


212 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


house,” said Herr von Wismar to me, probably feeling 
that he had gone too far. “Is she the striking, hand- 
some girl ” 

“ Charlotte is beautiful, is she not ?” I interrupted him, 
delighted. I instantly forgave him his childish manner 
and bearing. 

“A little too colossal for my taste, — rather strong- 
minded and prononcee. I have seen her now and then 
at the assemblies,” said the Princess, more to the cham- 
berlain than to me. I did not understand the significance 
of the term “ strong-minded,” but I appreciated the 
reproach in the lady’s tone, and it pained and offended 
me. “ A strange household I” she continued. “ How 
did Claudius happen to adopt the children of a French- 
man ?” 

Herr von Wismar shrugged his shoulders to convey 
his ignorance of the subject. 

“ And his adopted children are anything but grateful 
to him,” exclaimed Fraulein von Wildenspring. “ This 
Charlotte used to detest the very name of Claudius ; she 
had Mericourt written in all her school-books, and the 
girls used to like dearly to call her as often as possible 
by the odious name, just to see her eyes flash.” 

“Ah, then, you know the girl, Constanze ?” asked the 
Princess. 

“ As one girl in a pensionnat knows another of an en- 
tirely different social standing, your Highness,” the maid 
of honourreplied, with an indifferent shrug of her shoulders 
that made my blood boil. “ We were together for two 
years in the same establishment in Dresden. When she 
came here she made an attempt to renew our intercourse 
and paid me a visit ” 

“ Well ?” pursued the Princess, as the young lady hesi* 
tated. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


213 


“ Papa did not approve of the association for me, so I 
simply drove to the house and left a card ” 

She suddenly paused, turned, and made a profound and 
graceful courtesy. A handsome young man, with a very 
grave face, accompanied by my father and two othei 
gentlemen, entered from a side door, — it was the Duke. 

The Princess welcomed him as affectionately as a 
mother, and then presented me to him. It no longer 
needed any special summoning of courage to look up at 
his Highness, and calmly answer his kindly inquiries ; I 
had quickly grown more at my ease, and the “ daisy” 
must have held her head perceptibly higher, for my father 
looked at me in surprise, and passed his hand caressingly 
over my hair. 

He seemed annoyed again, and I regarded with actual 
detestation the gold coins which the Duke displayed to 
his aunt. He told her that they had cost him a consid* 
erable sum, but that they made his collection, already 
famous, almost perfect, for the existence of some of the 
specimens that he had just procured had been considered 
as fabulous as a Niebelungen lay. 

I saw my father tremble, and I pitied him from the 
bottom of my heart. I could easily imagine the torture 
that he must endure in seeing the coveted treasures 
admired on all sides as the lawful property of another. 
Irritation against the man whose “ tradesman’s sagacity” 
had caused this self-denial, took possession of me, and all 
reserve was forgotten. 

“ Yes,” I said, in a low tone, to the Princess, who was 
just examining with delight the imperial coin, “ here, 
too, Herr Claudius imagines himself wiser than any one ; 
he says that coin is not genuine.” 

The Duke turned suddenly, and to mj terror looked at 
me half in surprise, half in anger. 


214 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


But my father laughed and stroked back my hair from 
my brow. “Well done, little diplomatist I” he cried. 
“ It is well for your father that his position is secure, 
or that chattering mouth might make mischief! Ridi- 
culous J” he said, with a shrug, to Herr von Wismar,—. 
the only one in the room whose face grew slightly in- 
credulous, although the man evidently had not the 
smallest knowledge of such matters, “the man under- 
stands about as much of numismatics as I do of the 
culture of flowers. For your satisfaction, let me tell you, 
however, that the person who has these coins for sale 

leaves K this afternoon, furnished by me with letters 

of recommendation, — he goes to courts and universities, 
protected by the aegis of my name ; does not that reassure 
you as to the genuineness, attested by me, of his High- 
ness’s purchase ?” 

Herr von Wismar smiled in an embarrassed way, and 
declared that no suspicion as to the coins had ever 
crossed his mind. 

A perfect storm was instantly aroused against all 
dilettanteism, and no one was more bitter against it than 
Fraulein von Wildenspring, who had hitherto confined 
her part in the conversation to a few learned words 
thrown in here and there. 

“ The dilettante always has been and always will be 
the pest of the scientific man,” said my father. “Hitherto 
I have had nothing to complain of with regard to the 
elder Claudius ; he is extremely reserved, avoids all inter- 
course with me in his own house, and lets me work and 
rummage among his treasures of art as I please,— but 
my famulus, as you call him, makes my life a burden to 
me.” 

“Aha! the gallant lieutenant?” laughed one of the gem 
tie men. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


215 


“ He sips at science like a butterfly at a flower, ” my 
father continued, with a nod of assent. “ Appeal in 
ever so faint a degree to his reasoning faculty, and he is 
lip and away ! The interest in antiquities that at present 
emanates from the court is adopted by him just as if 
it were a varying fashion, like that by which he hangs a 
golden saddle to-day, and a gay beetle to-morrow, as 
charms to his watch-chain. A short time ago he accom- 
panied his uncle upon a business trip to the north. In 
compliance with his urgent request, I gave him a letter 
of introduction to Professor Hart, in Hanover, who was 
so kind as to accompany the gentleman upon a visit to 
a group of Huns’ graves on the moors, and to have one 
opened for them. Heavens ! how the precious articles, 
that young Claudius brought thence, looked when he 
gave them to me ! Bent and broken, * because,’ as he 
said, 1 he had packed them with some minerals that Pro- 
fessor Hart had sent by him to a friend.’ It gave me a 
cold shiver I” 

Little did my father dream that I, too, had a cold shiver 
at this moment, — that I suddenly detested the people 
around me ! They laughed and sneered, and no one had 
a word to say in defense of the absent. The Princess 
had defended Herr Claudius when I abused him, — even 
Herr von Wismar had spoken in his favour ; but no one 
had a good word to say for Charlotte and Dagobert,-— 
poor things ! 

The Princess suddenly interrupted the general con- 
versation by asking at what time the arrangement of the 
curiosities in the Karolinenlust would be completed ; she 
proposed to accompany the Duke thither upon his first 
visit. 

“ I have a little plan of my own,” she said. “ I should 
very much like to see the Claudius establishment, the 


216 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


palms in the hot-houses there are so famous. I hesitate 
about going specially to see them, — the man’s bourgeois 
pride is so immense : it would scarcely be pleasant ” 

“And the pietistic colouring which has lately so char- 
acterized the establishment, and which is so obnoxious 
to your Highness ?” asked Fraulein von Wildenspring, 
slyly, — it was easy to see that she by no means favoured 
the Princess’s project of visiting the place. 

“For that very reason my apparent motive in going 
shall be to visit the collection of curiosities. By the way 
I can go through the gardens, and not come in contact 
either with the arrogance or the pietism of their possessor.” 

The maid of honour silently handed her mistress a cup 
of tea, and then, seemingly convinced, went back to her 
embroidery. The remainder of the evening was occupied 
by an animated debate concerning ancient art, and the 
gentlemen who had so flouted dilettanteism pronounced 
their opinions with as much decision as if they were all 
as distinguished scholars as my father, and had devoted 
their lives and minds simply and solely to the study of 
archaeology. I should have placed implicit faith in them 
if I had not observed the sarcastic glances exchanged 
from time to time by the Duke with my father. 

When we took our leave, the Princess sent for a 
silken scarf, which she put around my neck. It had 
grown cool, she said, and her dear little moorland lark 
must not be hoarse. She declared to my father that she 
must often have me with her, and that she would take 
me under her especial protection; then she kissed my 
forehead and we departed. 

Meanwhile a thunder-storm had passed over the city. 
The air blew cool around my temples, and the moist 
gravel before the ducal castle shone and sparkled in the 
light of the lamps. A court equipefge was in waiting for 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


217 


us; it drove thunderingly into the Claudius courtyard, 
and my heart swelled with childish vanity as I stepped 
out, beside the footman who opened the carriage-door, 
upon the pavement across which I had, a few days before, 
hardly been permitted to pass. My eyes sought Char- 
lotte’s windows. I hoped she might have seen me, but 
all that part of the house was dark except the window 
of the hall, where a superb old-fashioned lamp hung from 
the centre and illumined the lofty marble arches that 
spanned it. 

In one of the huge conservatories of which the Prin- 
cess had that evening spoken, a light was burning, — two 
large globe lamps flung a crimson light abroad upon the 
night. As we passed along the principal path I heard 
hasty steps emerge from the structure, there was a flutter 
of light robes through the rose-bushes, and Charlotte 
stood before us. 

“ I heard you come,” she said, in a low voice, breathing 
quickly. “ Pray let me have the little Princess for half 
an hour, Herr von Sassen, — it is such an exquisite night. 
I will take her safe home to the Karolinenlust.” 

My father bade me good-night and promised to tell 
Ilse where I was. He left us, and Charlotte put her arm 
around my shoulder and clasped me to her. 

“ You can’t help it, little one, you must play the part 
of a lightning-conductor,” she said, hurriedly, in a whisper. 
“ In there,” and she pointed to the conservatory, “ two 
hard heads are in dispute. Uncle Erich so seldom spends 
the evening with us that our worthy Eckhof has gradu- 
ally become accustomed to play first fiddle at our tea- 
table. But to-night, to our great astonishment, Uncle 
Erich chose to preside there himself, and scarcely had 
we taken refuge from the first drops of rain in the 
conservatory, when Eckhof, with an inconceivable want 

19 


213 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


of tact, began to reproach Uncle Erich bitterly with 
Helldorf’s presence at the dinner to-day, and suddenly 
found himself in a terrible wasp’s nestl” 

She paused, and stood listening for a moment to the 
threatening sound of Eckhof’s voice as it rang out on the 
night. 

“It can do the old fellow no harm to have his sulky 
reign in the house and business a little interfered with,” 
she said, in tones of evident vexation ; “ he has grown 
too secure, and goes too far, that is certain. But the 
matter ought not to be given over to Uncle Erich, — he 
kills the old man with his implacable eyes, his coolness, 
and composure, that give each word he speaks such 
power to wound.” She hurried on more quickly. 
“ Heaven only knows what gave occasion to this sudden 
outburst. Eor years Uncle Erich has endured Eckhof’s 
gloomy presence in the house as if he was not aware 
of it, and Eckhof took good care never to make use of 
his biblical phraseology before him ; but now, in his 
wrath, it is flowing involuntarily and with such unc- 
tion from his lips, one can scarcely listen. I hate to 
hear such silly nonsense from the mouth of any man, 
although I am really grateful to the old man : he takes 
part with Dagobert and myself, and therefore it is in- 
cumbent upon me to make his punishment as short as 
possible. Come, the sight of you will put an end to the 
scene 1” 

The nearer I came to the green-house — it was not the 
one injured by Darling — the more vague and dreamlike 
everything seemed. I scarcely heard what Charlotte was 
whispering, and accompanied her mechanically until we 
stood looking through the clear glass into the interior. 
The conservatory lay at some distance from the principal 
path. I had hitherto only seen the gleams of its glass 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


219 


panes. I had never been near it before ; of course I 
knew nothing then of geography or botany. I did not 
know that here was a piece of the tropics imprisoned in 
the midst of German vegetation; for me there then existed 
but two climes, — miracle and reality. 

Within there were no flower-pots or tubs as in the 
other hot-houses. Directly from the soil grew palms, 
strong and tall, as if they could break through the pro- 
tecting dome of glass above them. Water leaped into 
the air from the midst of a pile of brown rock, and the 
spray, dashing into diamonds as it fell, made the delicate 
leaves of the giant ferns, growing in every crevice, trem- 
ble unceasingly ; cacti sprawled their clumsy proportions 
hither and thither at the base of the rock, while from 
their green flesh sprang forth crimson bells a span long, 
and where others twisted and turned their awkward arms 
in the darkest shadow there was a faint glimmer of gold 
and white, like a dim reflection of a sunbeam. 

I looked up to Charlotte, thinking that she too must be 
wrapped in the same intoxication that possessed me, the 
inexperienced moorland child by her side ; I forgot that 
it all belonged to this “ shop” that she and Dagobert so 
hated and despised. Her brilliant eyes were riveted 
upon a single object — the face of Herr Claudius. He 
stood beneath a palm in the full light of the lamps, as 
slender and erect as its graceful stem. It was not true 
that there was any coldness in his “implacable eyes.” 
His face was flushed with inward emotion, although his 
attitude, with his arms folded across his breast, gave him 
an appearance of composure and impassibility. 

The tea-table, that had been hastily transported hither 
from an arbour in the garden, looked oddly in the midst 
of such surroundings. Dagobert was sitting at it. The 
glimmer and brilliancy of his uniform harmonized with 


220 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


the gay colouring of the tropical plants, to which his 
uncle’s quiet dress formed a strange contrast. His back 
turned to Herr Claudius, he sat, balancing a teaspoon 
upon his forefinger in evident embarrassment, looking as 
if he longed to escape the tempest rolling over him. 
Apparently he had taken as little part in the unpleasant 
discussion going on as had Fraulein Fliedner, who was 
knitting with a feverish rapidity nothing except a con- 
tract to furnish an entire orphan asylum with stockings 
within a very limited period, could justify. 

“All this has no effect upon me, Herr Eckhof,” said 
Herr Claudius to the bookkeeper, who, with his hands 
resting upon the back of a chair, stood at some distance 
from his employer, his head arrogantly erect. He had 
just finished speaking in that broad, emphatic tone that 
was meant to strike home. “ Blasphemy, infidelity, scoffer, 
— the influence of these favourite denunciatory words of 
your party is not to be underrated,” Herr Claudius con- 
tinued. “ Principally by their means a large number of 
intelligent human beings, incredible as the statement is 
in this nineteenth century, are in apparent subjection to 
a minority of narrow-minded fanatics. Many men of 
intellect have a certain faith in the influence of these 
worn-out anathemas upon the masses, and are silent in 
spite of their more enlightened convictions, and this 
gives the throne upon which your party is seated feet of 
clay for a certain period.” 

The chair upon which Eckhof was leaning trembled 
and creaked, but Herr Claudius paid no heed to the slight 
interruption. 

“I revere Christianity, — understand me aright, — but 
not the church,” he continued. “In accordance with my 
own conviction as well as with the custom of my ancestors, 
I have endeavoured to preserve a high moral tone among 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 221 

the people in the employ of the firm ; but I will never 
consent that my house should be made a hot-bed of re- 
ligious fanaticism ! What can be more entirely irrecon- 
cilable than the gloomiest orthodoxy, the narrowest the- 
ology that ever crept into its secure snail shell, with a 
firm that has connections established all over the world, 
in Turkey, China, and the farthest East ? What terrible 
hypocrisy our young travelling agents, whom you would 
educate in such strict orthodoxy, must be guilty of in 
their business intercourse with men belonging to sects 
that you have taught them to consider accursed of God ! 
I can hardly forgive myself for neglecting this so long, 
for leaving my people to suffer ” 

“ I have used force with no one !” the bookkeeper in- 
terrupted him. 

“ Of course you have not used the lash, Herr Eckhofi 
but you have taken advantage of your position. I know, 
for example, that our youngest clerk, a man who sup- 
ports a widowed mother, gives far more than he can 
afford to your missionary box, — of the existence of which 
I have not hitherto been aware. All our work people, 
men and women, submit to your weekly deduction from 
their wages for the same purpose, because they cannot 
help it, for they believe you to be all-powerful with me, 
and they fear lest you should do them an injury. Do you 
never reflect that these people pay dearly enough for 
their belief? The church appeals to them with an open 
palm at every important epoch of their lives — at baptism, 
confirmation, solemnization of marriage ; even at their 
last farewell to the world they must add their contribu- 
tion from the labour of their hands towards the support 
of the church. Therefore away with all missionary 
boxes in this house ! Away with the bigoted tracts that 
I found in quantities yesterday in the desks in the work- 

19 * 


222 


TILE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


rooms, and which degrade our honest German tongue 
with their childish babble, appealing as they do to the 
rude religious conceptions of the Middle Ages 1” 

This crushing condemnation was uttered in anything 
but an excited tone. The colour scarcely deepened on 
the cheeks of the speaker, and now and then he calmly 
extended a restraining hand towards the bookkeeper. 

Charlotte stood as if rooted to the spot. She had 
apparently forgotten that she had brought me hither to 
put an end to the matter. “ He speaks well/’ she mut- 
tered. “ I would not have given him credit for it, — he is 
usually so indolent and sparing of words. Actually 
Eckhof is fool enough to pick up the glove again, and 
bring down another blow upon his head !” she added, 
angrily ; her flashing eyes were riveted upon the book- 
keeper as if their gaze would break through the glass 
pane. He left his place and advanced a step or two 
towards Herr Claudius. 

“ Despise the ‘ childish babble’ if you will, Herr Clau- 
dius,” he said, — his sonorous voice was sharp as a 
knife, — “ it refreshes and strengthens me, and thousands 
of other true Christian souls. It is the will of the Lord 
that we should cherish the simple spirit of children, and 
we are thus more acceptable in his sight than when read- 
ing the works of the immortal Schiller and Goethe, who 
do not, of course, degrade our honest tongue. If you 
will not permit my well-meant exertions in the service 
of my Lord and Master in your house, I must meekly 
submit. I only thought it could not harm the other 
house to have many prayers offered there daily, since so 
much has happened in it that cries aloud to the Lord for 
atonement.” 

“ This is the second time within a few days that you 
have levelled at me this indirect reproof,” said Herr Clau* 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


223 


dius, calmly. “ I respect your years, and your services 
to the firm, and therefore I will say nothing of a course 
of action on your part that does not disdain to tear open 
old wounds, and appeal to them in a struggle for vanish- 
ing dominion ; I leave you to decide whether the means 
be a noble one. The deeds of my youthful passion and 
folly must rest upon my own head. Unfortunately I have 
added to their number by permitting you, in hopes of 
thereby atoning somewhat for the loss of your son, to exert 
too unrestrained a rule in this establishment. It would 
be a crying wrong to allow all those dependent upon me to 
suffer one day longer for my fault. I do not want their 
forced, ineffectual prayers 1” 

“ What did he do ?” I whispered to Charlotte. 

“ He shot Eckhof’s only son.” 

I started away from her, hardly suppressing a shriek. 

“Heavens, don’t be so childish I” Charlotte exclaimed 
impatiently, drawing me towards her again. “ Eckhof’s 
son fell in an honourable duel, which was certainly one of 
the most interesting occurrences in Uncle Erich’s highly 
respectable existence. But let us go in ; matters have 
reached the boiling-point.” 

And she walked to the door and thrust me across 
the threshold. I trod upon gravel; winding paths led 
through the dark shrubbery, between masses of rock, 
here and there traversing soft, velvety turf. As we 
passed through the interlacing boughs that separated us 
from the group and the light of the lamps, mv courage 
failed me. I was by no means upon such terms with 
the people of the other house as to justify me in thrusting 
myself forward, late at night, as a witness of a scene 
not intended for stranger ears or eyes. Suppce-e it 
should make the master of the house angry ? All at 
once, I could not tell why, it became impossible to me ta 


224 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


think “Oh, it is only Herr Claudius!” I trembled be' 
fore him. 

Charlotte had put her arm around me, and when, fol- 
lowing my first impulse to flee, I tried to slip away, my 
waist was clasped mercilessly tight ; I was hurried on- 
wards, and we stood, as if dropped from the skies, in 
the midst of them all. 

“ I have picked up the little Princess in the garden,” 
Charlotte said hastily, cutting short the phrase upon the 
lips of the bookkeeper. “ Dearest Pliedner, just look 
at the child, — is she not transformed ? She has been 
drinking court-tea, and coming home in a court-carriage 
quite a la Cinderella ; let us see, child, whether you have 
not left one of your satin boots behind you on the castle 
stairs.” 

In spite of my confusion I laughed and sat down in 
the chair that Dagobert placed for me. Charlotte was 
right : the contest ceased entirely ; and when I raised 
my eyes I saw the bookkeeper vanishing in the direction 
whence we had just come. 

Herr Claudius was still standing beside the palm. I 
glanced at him timidly. Was there not a brand upon his 
brow ? He had killed a fellow-mortal ! I only saw the 
serious blue eyes gazing at me, and I shrank in terror. 

Fraulein Pliedner gave a sigh of relief; she was evi- 
dently glad I had come, and kindly pressed my hand. 

“ Tell us about it, my child,” she said, as she took off 
my hat and readjusted my dress. “ How did you like it 
at court?” 

I settled myself comfortably in my huge basket-chair ; 
some feathery fronds of giant fern, glimmering emerald- 
green in the lamplight, waved just above my forehead, and 
others from either side brushed my shoulders with a cool, 
caressing touch. There I sat, as under a shielding canopy, 


TI1E LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


225 


and felt entirely hidden. Herr Claudius retired, but he 
did not leave the conservatory: we heard him softly and 
uninterruptedly pacing to and fro behind the rocks and 
groups of plants. 

My courage returned, and I told, at first with hesita- 
tion, and then with growing eagerness, of my distin- 
guished debut, — how my limbs refused to perform the 
courtesy that had been so carefully prepared, how I sang 
the nursery song, and how frankly I had narrated the 
story of my childhood to the Princess. 

Charlotte repeatedly interrupted me with bursts of 
laughter, and even Friiulein Fliedner smiled ; bat Dago- 
bert did not join in their merriment; he looked at me 
with the same half-terrified expression that I had seen in 
the gray eyes of the maid of honour, and wkn in conclu- 
sion, as I felt too warm, I threw the scarf from my neck 
upon the table, remarking that it belonged lo the Princess, 
he took it up with evident veneration, and carefully hung 
it over the back of his chair, which annoyed and provoked 
me beyond measure. 

“ Stay 1” Charlotte suddenly cried, and stretched out 
her hand towards me, as I was about to begin afresh. 
“Now say yourself, Fraulein Fliedner, does not the little 
Princess, in spite of her dark-blue eyes, look far more like 
one of those interesting daughters of Israel spoken of in 
the Bible than an offshoot of our genuine German no- 
bility ? There, as the thick curls peep out beneath tho 
fern leaf, — pray shade your brow one moment with your 
hand, little Princess, — she reminds me of Paul Dela 
roche’s young Hebrew mother keeping her stolen watch 
over the infant Moses upon the river-bank.” 

“ My grandmother really was a Jewess,” I said, quite 
at my ease. 

The regular footsteps in the background of the con- 

p 


226 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


servatory paused for a moment, and there was silence 
around the tea-table. I sat so that I could overlook 
a part of the garden through the glass panes. The 
moon had risen, but it was behind a mountain of cloud, 
to whose jagged edges it gave a silver lining. A vague, 
uncertain light reigned over the spacious garden, — the 
field of white lilies, although it lay far in the background, 
partly beneath the trees upon the bank of the river, 
seemed to have gathered into its breast all the moonlight; 
it glimmered over at me and again reminded me, as it 
had before, with a pang of homesickness, of my poor 
grandmother when she had lain lifeless beneath the oaks. 
It roused afresh in me the memory of all that I had 
endured and suffered through that miserable night. The 
rare, and always dread-inspiring intercourse that there 
had been for long years between the brain-sick invalid 
and myself, then the sudden revival of natural affection 
for me in her dying hour, my grief on learning that death 
had laid his grasp upon the heart just opened to me, all 
this flood of remembrances came rushing over me, — and 
I told of it all. I told, too, of the fearful scene between 
my grandmother and the old pastor; how she rejected 
his spiritual aid and died a Jewess, and of his gentle 
behaviour on the occasion. Suddenly, while all were 
listening quietly, the gravel creaked beneath a heavy 
tread, and the bookkeeper, whom I had supposed at the 
Karolinenlust, stood before me. 

“ The man was a weakling !” he thundered. “ He ought 
not to have left the bedside until he had regained the 
wayward soul. He should have forced her to recant 
Priests have means enough to arouse and recall apostates 
when they would wilfully rush to hell ” 

I sprang up. The thought that such a voice as that 
might recklessly break in upon the dying hour of a human 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 2'zl 

being, and with its harsh dissonance prolong the agony 
of the parting soul, agitated me greatly. 

“ Oh, he would not have dared to do so ! We would 
not have allowed it, — Use and I, — most certainly not ! 
I will not allow you now, either, to say one word about 
in. y poor grandmother!” I cried. 

Fraulein Fliedner rose quickly, — she soothingly put 
her arm around me with a terrified glance towards the 
rocky mound. The footsteps behind it were again audi 
ble ; they approached the tea-table. 

“ Fid you tell the Princess all that, Fraulein von Sas- 
sen ?” asked Dagobert. His question put a stop to the 
agitating discussion, and consequently the footsteps re- 
treated. 

I silently shook my head. 

“ Well, then, if you will permit me to advise you, never 
mention it in the future.” 

“Why not ?” asked Fraulein Fliedner. 

“ I should think you could see yourself why not, 
my dearest Fliedner,” he said, with an almost petulant 
shrug of his shoulders. “ Every one knows that the 
Duke has no love for the Jews, since his former agent, 
Hirschfeld, swindled him so terribly and escaped. Be- 
sides, and this is the special consideration, the name Yon 
Sassen has been held stainless at court for centuries. The 
Duke, it is true, values Herr von Sassen principally for 
his great learning, but it is quite otherwise with those 
around him, who think chiefly of the antiquity and purity 
of his family. Such disclosures upon the part of Frau- 
lein von Sassen might easily affect both the Herr Doc- 
tor’s reception at court and her own, and that is certainly 
undesirable.” 

I said nothing, because I could not understand all this 
speech ; I could not see how it could possibly harm my 


228 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


father to have had a Jewess for a mother ; my ignorance 
of the ways of the world was too profound. This, how- 
ever, was not the time to reflect upon it. I was still 
trembling with the fright the dreaded old man’s sudden 
appearance had caused me, and he was standing oppo- 
site to me with folded arms, his eyes glowering down 
upon n^e from beneath their white eyebrows as if they 
would wither me. For the first time in my life I felt 
that I was hated, a sore experience for a youthful soul. 
The air that I breathed near my enemy seemed stifling. 
I could not stay in the hot-house a moment longer. 

“ I must go home,— Ilse is waiting for me,” I said. By 
an energetic movement I freed myself from Fraulein 
Fliedner’s arm, and seized my hat, while my eyes sought 
the cool, spacious garden with feverish longing. 

“ Well, come, then,” said Charlotte; rising. “ Yes, yes, 
I see by your eyes that we cannot keep you any longer 1 
You are ready to dash these panes to atoms like Dar- 
ling ” 

“ Darling threw his rider this afternoon and trampled 
him beneath his hoofs,” said I. 

Dagobert started up. “ What ! Arthur Tressel ? That 
capital rider ? Impossible !” he exclaimed. 

“ Ah, bah 1 a fine rider ! The man would have done 
more wisely to stick to his counting-room,” said Char- 
lotte, with a show of indifference, but an angry glance 
gleamed from under her half-closed eyelids towards 
the background of the hot-house. “ Is he hurt, poor 
fellow ?” 

“ Herr von Wismar told the Princess that he had a rude 
temperament, a most robust constitution, and it would not 
be easy really to injure it.” 

From behind the rocks sounded a low laugh. I think 
the shock of an earthquake could scarcely have pro- 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


229 


duced more effect upon the brother and sister than fol- 
lowed my unconscious reply and that low laugh. What 
had I done that Dagobert’s eyes should flame at me 
so angrily ? Charlotte looked half ready at first to 
reply to that laughter with an angry outbreak, but she 
restrained herself, held her head erect, and turned to me : 
41 Come, little one, give Friiulein Fliedner a kiss and bid 
her good-night; it is time you were put to bed!” 

At any other time this speech would have wounded 
the dignity of my seventeen years, — but I forgave Char- 
lotte on the instant, for the lips that uttered the light 
words were colourless, — the haughty girl had been deeply 
wounded, — I saw that, although I could not understand 
how. 

She walked calmly and quietly by my side through the 
green-house and the front part of the garden, but scarcely 
was the bridge behind us when she drew a long, deep 
breath, and, pausing, pressed both hands to her heart. 

“ Did you hear him laugh ?” she asked, giving way tc 
her anger. 

“ Was it Herr Claudius?” 

“ Yes, child ; when you have been with us a little 
longer, you will learn that that lofty intelligence never 
laughs aloud, except, as just now, at some weakness of 
mankind. You must for the future, little one, be more 
careful in Uncle Erich’s presence as to repeating what 
you see and hear at court.” 

I was provoked. They had insisted upon my talking, 
and I had been wonderfully reserved and cautious for my 
frank, unschooled nature ; not a word had passed my 
lips of what had been said at court about Dagobert. 

“ What do you complain of?” I asked, stoutly. “ Was 
it wrong to say that at court they considered young 
Tressel strong and healthy ?” 

20 


230 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ 0 sancta simplicitas !” cried Charlotte, with a sneer- 
ing laugh. “Arthur Tressel is delicate and slender, — a 
frail creature. Herr von Wismar’s speech had reference 
to his bourgeois blood. An aristocrat would undoubtedly 
have broken all his refined, peculiarly constructed ribs in 
euct an accident, and breathed forth his noble soul ; but 
this rude bourgeois blood, having such an admixture of 
coarse earth in it, is not so easy to spill.” 

She laughed again, walked quickly forward, and we 
emerged upon the parterre of the Karolinenlust. 

The moon hung clear and full above the villa. The 
white light, bathing all the little oasis that had here been 
recovered from the dim woodland, intoxicated my nerves 
like the heavy fragrance of the front garden. In it the 
marble Diana, beneath the group of copper beeches, 
awaked to such life that it seemed as if the arrow from 
her bent bow must instantly cleave the air ; the light 
flooded the festoons of fruit and flowers on the front of 
the villa, the steady eyes and closed lips of the caryatides, 
and swam upon the mirror of the lake and the large win- 
dows. I could see every fold in the faded curtains hanging 
behind the glass doors of the balcony. The moon was 
stealing through those mysterious apartments upon 
silvery feet ; but the hanging-lamp in the room of the 
grim old fanatic below would not tremble. 

“He would have understood my brother and me,” said 
Charlotte, pointing up to the windows I was gazing at. 
“He freed himself with a strong hand from the dust and 
soil of trade, and boldly climbed to that sphere where 
alone he could breathe freely.” She gazed steadily at 
the glistening panes and shrugged her shoulders. “ He 
dashed himself from it, it is true, with a bullet through 
his brain; but what matter? He had forced that 
haughty caste to acknowledge him, — he was their equal, 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


231 


and pursued his brilliant career upon the soil that they 
guarded so jealously and exclusively. What matter 
whether that career lasted ten or fifty years ? I would 
willingly die young could I thereby purchase twelve 
months of life upon those heights. I know what it is to 
pass half one’s youth with a proud, ambitious heart and 
a sordid plebeian name, among sneering aristocratic com 
panions. I will not always stand at the foot of the 
ladder, — I will not!” 

She clinched her fist and walked hurriedly to and fro. 

“Dagobert feels and suffers as I do,” she went on, 
standing still again, “and Uncle Erich sees this flame 
in our hearts, and tries to stifle it with all the bour- 
geois arrogance of his station. Our minds ought to be 
our kingdoms ; we should find happiness there, philoso- 
phers tell us, not in outward circumstances. Ridiculous ! 
I am in torture. I struggle against the bit and curse the 
malice of fate that has left an eaglet in a crow’s nest! 
Whence come these aspirations ?” she continued, more 
slowly. “ I have had them all my life, — they must be 
in the blood that flows in my veins. This idea of an 
innate aristocracy can be no chimera, — there must be 
some chain woven through successive generations to link 
us with past greatness, even although we are not aware 
of it, as in the case of Dagobert and myself, whose origin 
is enveloped in impenetrable darkness.” 

Her passionate complainings ceased in a kind of 
stammer. Just at the opening of one of the woodland 
paths that we were traversing stood Herr Claudius, 
gazing calmly and seriously at the agitated girl. 

“ I promise you this darkness shall be withdrawn one 
day, Charlotte,” he said, as composedly as if the violent 
outburst had been addressed to him and he were answer- 
ing it directly. “ But you must not learn the truth until 


232 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


you can bear it, until life and I” — and he touched hia 
breast lightly — “have made you more reasonable. Now 
go quietly home, and let Dorte prepare you a soothing 
draught. One thing more : I strictly forbid any moon- 
light walks with Friiulein von Sassen for the future ; 
Your insanity is infectious. You understand me V ' 

The high-spirited girl had not a word to say in reply ; 
for a moment surprise deprived her of all power of resist- 
ance. Holding her head more erect than ever, she wrung 
my hand so that I almost screamed ; then tossed it from 
her and disappeared in the shrubbery. 

I was left alone with him. My heart sank within me, 
but I would not let him see that I was afraid, not for the 
world ! If Goliath the mighty had lost his head for a 
moment and taken to ignominious flight, little David 
would maintain the field all the more bravely. I walked 
very slowly towards the Karolinenlust, and he accom- 
panied me. The hall was brilliantly lighted, and by Herr 
Claudius's orders two lights were always burning in the 
evening in the corridor behind my room. As I reached the 
entrance of this corridor, he stopped. 

“ You left me in anger this afternoon,’' he said. “ Give 
me your hand ; I should not like to repeat Heinz’s expe- 
rience with the cross raven.” 

He held out his hand. Through the ruby glass of the 
door of the corridor the light threw a crimson stain upon 
iis white palm, and a red gleam shot from the brilliant 
upon his finger. 

“It is covered with blood!” I cried, in horror, and 
thrust it away. 

He started and looked at me, — to my dying day I shall 
never forget the look that met mine. No human eye had 
ever so rested upon me before l Then he turned without 
a word and left the house. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


233 


Involuntarily I put my band upon my heart, as if the 
blow had recoiled upon myself. What pain it was ! yes, 
it was remorse, — profound remorse. I rushed down- 
stairs and out into the open air ; I wanted to give him 
the hand he had asked for, to beg him not to be angry. 
But the space before the house was empty. I heard the 
sounl of distant footsteps. Herr Claudius had entered 
one of the woodland paths. 

Much dejected, I went at last to Use, whose clear, keen 
eyes instantly detected the tears upon my eyelashes. I 
assured her they had been brought there by the dazzling 
ruby glass in the corridor door, which I wished Darling 
had shattered instead of the panes in the green-house. 


CHAPTER XXI. 

That evening was followed by several days of anxiety 
~an anxiety that I experienced for the first time in my 
life. My father was ill, he suffered so fearfully from 
headache that for three days he could not go into his be- 
loved library. The restless girl, who could not spend an 
hour of sunshine in-doors at the Dierkhof, sat from morn- 
ing until night in a darkened room at the sufferer’s feet, 
anxiously listening to every sound from his lips. I never 
thought of the brilliant August skies out-of-doors ; there 
was sunshine for me in the dim apartment when I could 
sit on the edge of the bed and place my cool hands upon 
the sick man’s burning forehead, when he whispered 
to Ilse with a faint smile that he had never dreamed of 
the blessing it was to have a child ; that since my 
mother’s death he had suffered doubly at each return of 
20 * 


!i34 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


his old complaint, — he suffered periodically from head- 
aches, — for he had had no one to care for him; he re- 
gretted every year that had separated father and daughter 
as a bitter loss to himself. 

The Duke’s own physician attended my father, and a 
footman came from the court twice every day to inquire 
after him and bring him some refreshing dainty. Use’s 
time was fully employed in answering the inquiries from 
all parts of the city that were made about the invalid. 
Great sympathy for us was also manifested by the in- 
mates of the other house. Fraulein Fliedner came her- 
self to see how affairs were going on every morning, and 
placed any number of servants at our disposal. Charlotte 
spent half an hour with me one evening, to comfort the 
“ child,” as she said, “in her trouble.” It seemed to me, 
though, that she needed comfort far more than I. There 
was a profound melancholy in her brilliant eyes, and the 
proud indifference of her bearing had given place to a 
nervous restlessness. She never alluded to the meeting 
with her uncle in the shrubbery, but she informed me 
that the sultry calm that precedes a storm pervaded the 
atmosphere of the other house. Herr Claudius was 
energetically carrying out his determination to rid his 
house and business of the cant and hypocrisy that had 
gained footing there. He had magnanimously left in the 
bookkeeper’s hands the sum already subscribed by the 
workmen to the missionary box, but had replaced it from 
his own pocket, and converted it into the foundation of a 
fund that should defray the expenses of an advanced 
scientific education for mechanics’ sons, and provide dow- 
ries for the daughters of the poorer class of laborers. 
The tracts had been cleared out by the basketful, and the 
young clerk who had tried to curry favour by giving far 
beyond his means to the missionary box, and by canting 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


235 


oehaviour generally, had received a severe admonition, 
and had been informed that any return to such hypo- 
critical paths would cost him his situation. Of course 
the bookkeeper was raging, — I knew that, for I had seen 
him several times through a crack in the shutters walking 
around the pond with the brother and sister. The bond 
between these three seemed to have been drawn closer 
than ever of late, as their long walks together in the 
forest testified. 

Whenever Charlotte mentioned Herr Claudius, I felt a 
pang of conscience ; but the torture of remorse and self- 
reproach had greatly abated since I had angrily insisted 
to myself that my father’s illness had been chiefly caused 
by his agitation and disappointment with regard to the 
valuable coin. The girlish logic of seventeen ascribed 
the whole blame in the matter to Herr Claudius’s hard- 
hearted refusal to advance the money for the purchase 
of the medal, and so we were quits ! 

These evil days gradually passed by. The windows 
of the sick-room once more admitted air and sunshine, 
and Ilse swept and dusted as if the sand of the desert 
had been blown thither in heaps. I accompanied my 
father upon his first visit to the library, prepared his 
afternoon cup of coffee for him, drew the green curtains 
half close, as he liked them, and threw a warm covering 
over his feet. I knew he was comfortable and able 
to write, and then I flew like an arrow down-stairs 
and out-of-doors. I was learning to prize the wood- 
land, the refreshing twilight beneath green overarching 
boughs. The sun shone with a burning glare upon 
the garden, as if greedy to absorb all the blue water of 
the little lake, that lay colourless and dull in its marble 
frame. 

I turned into the path that I had taken on Sunday, 


236 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


and wandered on, — yes, there was Gretchen’s little basket, 
wagon still full of half-dried, half-decayed strawberries. 
No one had carried it away; perhaps old Schafer had 
searched for it in vain. I pitied the poor childj who had 
doubtless mourned the loss of her toy. Her parents were 
poor, so poor that the mother’s hands were hard with 
labour, — they might not be able to replace the trifle. 

Although Herr Claudius — without a word, it is true — 
had shown me, by locking the gate and putting the key 
in his pocket, that I was emphatically forbidden to open 
it, I ran towards it instantly, and, sure enough, it was 
provided with a strong new lock, in which there was no 
key, and huge iron bolts beside. Heavens ! they must 
have had a great dread of my mighty strength, to have 
so cased the gate in iron. 

I climbed up into the elm, by no means an insignificant 
labour, for I had slipped my feet, clothed in “lace,” as 
Ilse called my new stockings, into my moorland shoes, 
that were of course a world too wide for me, and threat- 
ened every minute to faithlessly forsake me and tumble 
down into the bushes. 

At last, however, I sat securely among the topmost 
boughs. Upon the balcony of the Swiss cottage, in the 
cool shade of the sheltering vines, was a cradle, in which 
lay the baby upon a white pillow, evidently very lazy 
and content. Beside it stood Gretchen, eating a huge 
piece of bread, bending over her little brother, and 
prattling to him between the mouthfuls. Through the 
open door I could see the mother ironing busily; every 
now and then she came out upon the balcony to see after 
the children. 

Who would suspect that that lovely, gentle face could 
show such a tempest of emotion as I had witnessed on 
the previous Sunday? At present there was not the 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND FRINCESS . 


237 


faintest trace of it in her smiling eyes ; she had forgotten 
it, as Gretchen had forgotten her hay-wagon. But the child 
should not lose her plaything; I would get it immediately, 
fill it with fresh strawberries, and beg old Schafer, the gar- 
dener, to carry it to her. I left my seat and began to 
glide down from bough to bough, — when suddenly I heard 
voices approaching from the Karolinenlust : they must be 
very near. I shrank in dread at the sound of the book- 
keeper’s voice that seemed to reach me from the very 
foot of the elm. I could not regain the topmost boughs 
without making a terrible noise, so, in hopes that the 
danger would pass by quickly, I clasped my arms around 
the trunk of the tree, for I was sitting on a very thin, 
insecure bough, and listened with a beating heart. 

The first thing that I saw was the crimson bow in 
Charlotte’s hair; then Dagobert appeared, — they had fled 
from the sullen atmosphere of the other house to the 
forest; they were unhappy and wanted comfort; but it 
pained me that in their need they should go to that dis- 
agreeable old man. 

They turned into a path tLat passed very near my 
hiding-place. Eckhof lowered his voice, but, neverthe- 
less, I could hear distinctly every word that he uttered. 
His hat was off, the light gleamed upon his snowy hair, 
but the rest of his handsome old head looked dark and 
gloomy enough. 

“ For Heaven’s sake cease attempting to console me !” 
he cried, rudely, standing still as he spoke. “The con- 
sequences cannot be calculated. Neither of you can 
appreciate, for you do not know, the immense influence 
that it gave the church to have the eminent house of Clau- 
dius, with all its dependents, within our ranks. And 
now to have all that has been so carefully arranged and 
effected, destroyed so openly, so ruthlessly ! What a mis* 


238 


TJIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


erable delusion to set up intellectual culture, as thte 
modern idol is called, where the Lord had been re-estab- 
lished in all his ancient power!” 

“ Uncle Erich works mischief to himself by his present 
conduct,” said Dagobert, coldly. “ The wealthy and 
powerful have no better ally against the inroads of level- 
ling reformers than the church. If I possessed power 
and wealth, your party would boast one more zealous 
convert, but I must sail with the stream, and so I belong 
to those who lend a hand to the whirligig that they call 
progress.” 

“ Friiulein Charlotte thinks differently with regard to 
the church,” said Eckhof, and his gaze was riveted 
sternly upon the young girl. 

“ Yes ; but there we do not agree,” she replied, frankly. 
“If I had wealth, I would employ it as a means of clear- 
ing up the disgraceful gloom that envelops the past of 
our family. I would no longer eat the crumbs that are 
thrown to me. I feel and know that it is unworthy of 
me, that it will shame me one day to have done so ! From 
this time I will hoard and save ” 

“Friiulein Charlotte save?” Eckhof interrupted her r 
with incredulous sarcasm. 

“I tell you,” she replied, angrily, “I would dress in 
sackcloth and ashes to have the means to go to Paris to 
investigate ” 

“Suppose you need not go so far to penetrate the 
mystery ?” 

Each of these words struck upon my ear like sounding 
brass. The man who had slowly uttered them looked as 
if he had at one decisive blow put an end to a severe 
mental struggle. “ Come,” he said, authoritatively, to 
the young girl, who followed him silently and mechan- 
ically. He sat down upon the rocky seat where I had 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


239 


and sung on the previous Sunday, and which was directly 
opposite my hiding-place. 

Oh, dear, what a situation was this in which I found 
myself I In mortal distress, I clung to the trunk of the elm, 
fearing that the thin bough upon which I was perched 
would crack beneath my weight; and, to add to my misery, 
my unfortunate shoes undertook to slip off my feet grad- 
ually, and there was no way in which I could keep them 
on. Good heavens, if one of the monsters should suddenly 
come tumbling down from the tree, how Dagobert would 
laugh, and what a splendid occasion it would afford for 
my arch-enemy to hurl a thundering anathema at me! 

“ I will tell you a story,” said the bookkeeper to the 
brother and sister, who had seated themselves beside him. 
“ But first hear me solemnly declare that you do not learn 
what I am now about to impart to you because of my 
attachment to you. If I said you did, it would be false. 
Nor do I speak out of revenge. 1 Vengeance is mine , 1 
saith the Lord.’ You will not hear the man Eckhof in 
what I am about to say, but the soldier of the Lord, who 
has no choice when human interests, even those of his 
own flesh and blood, are opposed to the welfare of the 
church !” 

Eckhof was, in truth, inspired by this blind fanaticism, 
— he was terribly in earnest, as I could see in the gloomy 
fire of the eyes that he raised for one moment, as if seek- 
ing heaven through the leafy screen above him. 

“ You have repeatedly assured me that you would be 
one of us, were you but the possessor of wealth and a 
distinguished name,” he said to Dagobert. 

“ And I now solemnly reiterate the assurance. I could 
not place either name or wealth in better hands. I should 
think thousands but a small recompense.” 

Eckhof bowed his head: “ The Lord will accept them 


240 THE little moorland princess. 

as an atonement for so much secret sin, and remove bis 
chastising hand from the poor souls that find no rest now 
in their graves,” he said, with pathos. “ The evil began 
when the merchant’s son despised the station in life to 
which the Lord had called him, and grasped the sword 
He was fair to look upon, and understood the arts by 
which human souls are ensnared, so the Duke conferred 
upon him a patent of nobility and could not bear to have 
him out of his sight. A godless life was led in those 
days at court, whence justice, discipline, and the fear of 
the Lord should have shone abroad over the lands. The 
Duke himself was frivolous enough, as was his consort; 
and his two sisters, the Princesses Sidonie and Marga- 
rethe, were likened to the daughters of Herodias. They 
did as they pleased, for the Duke loved them tenderly ; 
he granted whatever they asked of him, but he would 
never have consented to a mesalliance for either of them, 
for he was proud of his princely blood. The beautiful 
sisters went hither and thither to other lands and courts 
as it pleased them. The Princess Margarethe. was more 

at the court of L than at home, but her elder sister 

liked best to visit Switzerland and Paris. She often left 
home for two or three months at a time, or even longer, of 
course in the strictest incognito, and always accompanied 
by an elderly and most respectable lady-in-waiting and a 
cavalier as elderly, — these worthy people died long since.” 

He paused a moment, and slowly stroked his chin, 
while I sat in silent despair upon my trembling bough, 
curling up my feet as well as I could to keep my shoes 
on, while the blood began to throb in my temples, for I 
did not dare to take a long breath ; and yet that old man 
would talk so slowly that it seemed as if he never would 
come to the end of his story. 

“ But the strange part of it all was,” he at last went 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


241 


on, “that always, whenever the Princess Sidonie de- 
parted for Switzerland, a lovely young creature made her 
appearance in the Karolinenlust. She had the Princess’s 
raven curls and slender figure, and was, in all respects, her 
very image. At such times the gate of the bridge across 
the stream was more firmly locked than ever, and upon 
the Karolinenlust side a fence was erected, which was, of 
course, removed at Lothar’s death. Only one person 
from the other house was allowed to pass across that 
bridge freely, — Fraulein Fliedner. Her visits were paid 
principally in the evening or late at night, and she had a 
private key of her own. If you ask me whence comes 
my knowledge of all this, I can only tell you that it was 
told me by my wife, now with the Lord. It is true she 
was never made a confidante in these matters, — to her 
honour be it said, — but women’s eyes and ears are keen, 
and if once feminine curiosity is aroused, little is thought 
of wetting the feet in a stream, and there is sure to be 
some unguarded place to slip through.” 

“Aha, the worthy woman played the listener too, 
then,” thought I, to my great satisfaction, and for a mo- 
ment I almost forgot my perilous position. 

“The days passed by as in a nest of turtle-doves. A 
woman’s glorious voice sang charming songs, and late 
in the silent night, upon the woodland lawn, the gay 
officer’s epaulettes have been seen sparkling in the 
moonlight, while a graceful woman, clad in white, clung 
caressingly to his arm. 

“One evening Fraulein Fliedner forgot her usual cau- 
tion, so great was her hurry in crossing the bridge, — 
lights were seen to move wildly to and fro in the win- 
dows of the Karolinenlust, and at midnight the cry of a 
child was heard.” 

Charlotte started up, with parted lips, as if gasping 
Q 21 


242 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


for breath, — her flashing eyes were riveted upon the 
speaker. 

“ For several years afterwards the presence of the lady 
in the Karolinenlust was observed from time to time ; the 
scene of which I have just spoken was repeated once 
again,” Eckhof continued ; “ and then the gay, frivolous 
Princess Sidonie suddenly died at the baths of heart dis- 
ease, and three days afterwards our handsome Lothar, 
who was at Vienna with the Duke, put a bullet through 
his brain. Herr Claudius arrived here a few days after 
the terrible event. He had, whilst upon his travels, 
been with Lothar in Vienna, and the two brothers, 
who had met but rarely, became very dear to each 
other. This I have from Erich himself. The first time 
that I had an opportunity of speaking seriously to him, I 
could not forbear mentioning the reports concerning the 
Karolinenlust. He gave me a dark, haughty glance, and 
said, showing me Lothar’s letter-case, ‘ Here are all the 
documents, — my brother was lawfully united to his wife !’ 
The next day, according to his brother’s desire, he sent 
for the legal authorities. I remained with them in the 
corridor, while he entered for the last time the apartments 
in which his brother had lived. I saw him lock up the 
letter-case in a writing-table in the drawing-room ; then he 
made the round of all the rooms, closed the doors, saw that 
the windows were firm, and three minutes afterwards the 
official seals were placed where they still remain. The 
two children, born in the Karolinenlust, are ” 

“ Hush, hush, — not a word more ! Do not say it 
aloud !” cried Charlotte, springing to her feet. “ Do you 
not know that I shall go mad, that I shall die, if I believe 
this wondrous tale even for one short hour, and then ad- 
mit to myself, ‘ It is not true, — it is a vision born in the 
brain of a woman long since dead’ ? ” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


243 


She put her hands to her temples, and hurried to and 

fro. 

“Be calm and cool,” said Eckhof’s warning voice, as 
he rose and took the young girl by the arm. “ I only 
ask, ‘If you are not the children of Lothar and the 
Princess, who are you V ” 

Good heavens 1 Charlotte the daughter of a Princess ! 
I came within an ace of falling from my seat. Every- 
thing would now turn out as it should, — everything! 
How manifest was the princely blood in her veins ! I 
could have shouted with joy if it had not been for the 
terrible pain in my feet, and if I had not needed every 
atom of muscular force that I possessed to keep perfectly 
motionless. What would become of me if that cross old 
man should discover me now in my involuntary part of 
listener, after all his confessions ! 

“ What reason could Herr Claudius have for adopting 
strange children of foreign nationality ?” he continued. 
“ Mark you, he will not deprive you of his brother’s in- 
heritance, — your rightful possessions, — he is too just for 
that ; nay, more, he insures you his own wealth, also, 
since he does not marry. He provides brilliantly for you 
in a pecuniary point of view, but you must wait until 
after his death. TJntil then he keeps you in leading- 
strings, and he will never reveal your true origin to you, 
for he does not choose to perpetuate a line so crossed 
with noble blood. I know him well, — he has all the 
Claudius bourgeois inflexibility and pride of purpose. 
But be composed,” Eckhof concluded, impatiently, “ and 
try to recall the scenes of your earliest childhood.” 

“I know nothing, — nothing 1” stammered Charlotte, 
her hand upon her forehead ; her strong mind was shaken 
beneath its weight of joy. 

“ Charlotte, pray collect yourself!” cried Dagobert. He 


244 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


was apparently much calmer than his sister ; but he 
seemed to me suddenly to have grown, he held himself 
so proudly, and there was an expression upon his flushed 
face that almost terrified me. “ She can have but very 
vague recollections of that time, for she was quite small 
when our lives were all changed, and mine are not much 
clearer,” he said to the bookkeeper. “We did not spend 
our earliest years in Paris, but at a little country-seat near 
the city, with Madame Godin, — this you know. I per- 
fectly remember that my father used to ride me on his 
knee, but I caunot for my life tell what he was like. I 
only know that he sparkled and shone, and they told us 
he was an officer. I saw my mother very rarely, — one 
afternoon is imprinted more clearly than anything else 
upon my memory. Mamma drove out to us with Uncle 
Erich and another gentleman. We had coffee in the gar- 
den, and Uncle Erich chased me about the lawn and 
tossed me up in the air, and took Charlotte in his arms. 
He was very different then from the Uncle Erich of to- 
day, — his colour was very fresh, and all his motions were 
quick and energetic. I think he could not have been more 
than twenty years old then.” 

“ He was twenty-one years of age,” the bookkeeper 
rejoined, with a gloomy look, “ when he left Paris for- 
ever.” 

“ Mamma sat at the piano,” Dagobert continued, “ and 
every one implored, ‘The tarantella I the tarantella !* 
And then she sang, — sang so that the glass in the win- 
dows shook, and every one seemed crazy, and I was 
crazy, too, with delight. Madame Godin often had to 
sing the song to me afterwards, in her weak, old voice, 
when she wanted me to be good and obedient, and I 
never shall forget ‘Gia laluna e in mezzo al mare, mamma 
mia si saltera P Try as I may, I cannot recall my 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


245 


mother’s face after the song. Uncle Erich is the promi- 
nent memory of that afternoon. Among a number of 
faces I could not select my mother’s, — I only know that 
she was tall and slender, and had long black curls falling 
upon her shoulders. I should have forgotten them, too, 
but that mamma scolded me because I had disarranged 
them with my childish caresses. After this visit, Uncle 
Erich often came alone. He petted and spoiled us, — . 
very different treatment from that which we have from 
him to-day ; and then he stayed away for a long time, 
until he came and separated me from Charlotte and Ma- 
dame Godin. This is all that I can tell you.” 

“ It is quite enough,” said Eckhof; “Herr Claudius was 
probably informed at an early period of the secret, and 
accompanied his sister-in-law upon one of her visits to 
her children. The Princess almost always went to Paris 
when the Duke took a journey with his adjutant.” 

He took the young officer’s arm. “And now there is 
need of the greatest caution and prudence to attain our 
common aim,” he said, slowly walking away with him 
into the forest. “Of course you will learn nothing — . 
not one word — from Fraulein Eliedner, who knows every- 
thing, but who would rather die than reveal what she 
knows. And how innocent and placid she contrives to 
look, too ! The lady-in-waiting, the old courtier, and the 
Princess’s physician, who used to be at the Karolinen- 
lust, are all dead ” 

“And so is Madame Godin, — she has been dead for 
years,” Dagobert added, dejectedly. 

“Never mind, we do not need them, — we will fiud 
ways and means,” Eckhof rejoined, resolutely. During 
his revelations the man had entirely dropped his biblical 
phraseology. “But we must strictly avoid all haste, even 
although years should elapse.” 

21 * 


246 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


They walked away. Charlotte did not follow them ; 
but when she thought herself alone she suddenly tossed 
her arms aloft, and from her panting breast came a strango 
laugh that was almost a sob. I did not know whether 
it was the inarticulate expression of intense happiness or 
of madness. I had seen my grandmother stand just so 
at the well in the courtyard. I leaned forward in terror, 
when one of my shoes fell off and went clattering down 
among the bushes, as if shot from a pistol. Charlotte 
Uttered a half-stifled shriek. 

“ Oh, hush, for Heaven’s sake!” I cried, slipping down 
to the ground and running towards her. 

“ You wretched child, you have been listening ?” she 
said from beneath my hand that I had placed upon her 
lips; and then she pushed me away from her, and sur- 
veyed me, angrily, from head to foot. 

“ Listening ?” I repeated, insulted. “ Is it my fault if 
you walk beneath the tree in which I am sitting ? Ought 
I to scream, ‘ Don’t come here, if you are going to tell 
secrets, for I am sitting up here, and would not for the 
world be seen by that old man who is so cross to me?’ 
And why do you call me wretched ? I am more delighted 
than I can tell, Fraulein Charlotte ! All will be well 
now, — you may well be proud I Only think, the Princess 
Margarethe is your aunt !” 

“Good God! would you torture me to death?” she 
almost screamed, shaking me violently by the shoulder 
Then she left me, and walked hastily to and fro. 

“ It is not true, — I do not believe one word of it all !” 
she said, after some minutes, apparently more composed, 
although her breath came gaspingly. “ That old man is 
growing childish, — he dreamed strange dreams long ago, 
and now he says his long-deceased wife told him this wild 
tale ! And some shadow of probability attaches to the 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


247 


story from our adoption by Uncle Erich. Nobody could 
ever conceive why he should have us here, and my heart 
always assured me that it was certainly not out of com- 
passion. Nothing but an investigation of those closed 
apartments in the Karolinenlust could convince me of any 
foundation in fact for the old man’s narrative. I cannot 
believe that the haughty Princess — pride of birth is a 
distinguishing characteristic of our ducal house — could 
have been privately married and have lived in the Karo- 
linenlust. I would stake my life that if the seals were re- 
moved from the doors to-day, nothing would be revealed 
but the home of a gay, pleasure-loving bachelor.” 

“ Do not stake your life upon that, Fraulein Charlotte,” 
I softly interrupted her, a strange bewilderment stealing 
upon me, and my brain whirling. “ A woman’s silken robe 
is hanging in those rooms, and upon the sheets of paper 
strewing the writing-table is written ‘ Sidonie, Princess 

of K .’ She must have written it herself, for neither 

my father nor Herr Claudius writes so delicate a hand, — 
none but a lady could write so.” 

She stared at me. “ Have you been there ? — behind 
those seals ?” 

“ Yes, I have been there,” I replied, quickly, with down- 
cast eyes ; “ I know a way into those rooms, and I will 
take you there, but not until Use has gone.” 

As I uttered Use’s name, a sensation of terror crept 
over me. She seemed to stand beside me with a raised 
and warning forefinger, while I felt as if I had done some- 
thing evil that could never be undone. It did not console 
or soothe me in the least to have Charlotte suddenly throw 
her arms around me with a cry of exultation and clasp 
me to her heart, — had I not sacrificed to her my dear old 
Use? 


243 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

Ilse’s industry during the following days was greatei 
than ever. Among my father’s effects she found two 
trunks of house-linen, which had never seen the light of 
day since my mother’s death. Of course she said sharp 
things of the odd man in the library, who was unpacking 
all sorts of broken crockery, as if it were too precious to 
be touched, while he left all this fine table- and bed-linen 
to go to ruin. She grew quite cheerful as the yellow tint 
produced by their long imprisonment faded into spotless 
white beneath her skilful hands and the bleaching rays 
of the sun ; but she had very little time to spare for me. 
She never noticed how often I threw my arms around her 
neck, and in an outbreak of tender caresses tried to atone 
for that treacherous “until Use has gone.” 

I was disturbed, too, by another scruple. Of course 
the thought of any danger to myself from meddling in 
this mysterious drama, never occurred to me. I was not 
worldly-wise enough for that, but I began to be conscious 
of a dim feeling of wrong done to the man in the other 
house, who sat unsuspectingly in his counting-room while 
all were leaguing against him. He was guilty, — there 
could be no doubt of that, — he was robbing the lofty- 
minded young pair of their noble name, and I longed to 
have them established in their rights ; but that under the 
seal of the deepest secrecy within the precincts of his own 
home there should be a plot contrived against him, that 
the treacherous bookkeeper and the brother and sister 
should continue in daily intercourse with him, and sit at 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


249 


his table, that my father should go on working and study- 
ing in the Karolinenlust as if it were hi3 own, whilst I, 
his child, was assisting the enemies of its proprietor, — . 
all this caused me genuine and profound distress. 

“You overheard us yesterday,” Dagobert said to me 
on the following morning, knitting his brows darkly, as, 
terrified at suddenly meeting him in the hall, I was en- 
deavouring to slip past him. He seemed to have been 
waiting for me. A single night had transformed the 
obsequious famulus into an imperious lord, — he looked 
quite as haughty as he had been upon the moor, and it 
provoked me ; but those proud brown eyes possessed 
such power over me that not one of the angry words I 
would have said to him passed my lips. 

“ Charlotte’s information terrified me,” he continued. 
“ I am convinced that the sparrows under the eaves 
will soon be chattering of our precious secret, for you 
are much too young and inexperienced to be able to 
judge of the importance of this matter. One single 
thoughtless word from you would put our cunning foe 
upon his guard and frustrate all our efforts.” 

“ But that word will never be spoken,” I said, angrily. 
“We shall see who can be most silent.” And I ran up 
the stairs and took refuge in the library. A seal was set 
upon my lips. I would sooner die than allow one word 
to be extorted from me. 

Dagobert’s rude brevity made me defiant, but Char- 
lotte inspired me with a sort of dread. She would stand 
for hours in the grove, her arms folded, her intense gaze 
riveted upon the veiled windows of the second story. 
She looked much paler than usual, and whenever she met 
me alone she would clasp me in her arms and whisper, 
eagerly, “ When will Frau Use be gone ? I can neither 
eat nor sleep, — -this suspense will kill me I” 


250 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


My chief refuge in my anxieties was with my father 
He was just finishing the arrangement of the antiques ; 
the Princess proposed to visit them shortly. I helped 
him, and to the instruction that he unconsciously imparted 
during our common labours I owed my growing capacity 
to handle the smallest and most insignificant fragment of 
clay or marble with his own delicate touch. I began to 
see, although but dimly, brooding above the “ broken 
trash” the immortal spirit, that centuries before had 
animated the human brain, marking out in every outline, 
every trace of colour, the ring that denotes each fresh 
phase in the tree of human development. 

But at last the sad, the dreaded day arrived ; it touched 
with burning gold from the unveiled sun the summits of 
the forest trees, and looked up from the pure blue of the 
little lake. How I hated that lake, the shining group 
of marble figures in its midst, and the trees which 
approaching autumn had begun to tint here and there 
wi-th yellow 1 I gazed at it all with a throbbing heart, — 
my tears were prisms for the dazzling play of colour. 

“ There must positively be no crying, child,” said Ilse, 
passing her hand over my eyes. She had on her travel- 
ling dress, her Sunday bonnet was upon the table, and 
near me stood the box containing her scanty wardrobe. 
She had been up-stairs to bid farewell to my father ; I 
could not go with her, but as I stood upon the landing 
outside 1 could hear her relieving her anxious heart in 
tones of respectful but adjuring entreaty. Her cheeks 
were crimson when she rejoined me, but her agitation did 
not hinder her from making good use of the dust-cloth 
she had in her hand. She wiped off with it each of the 
marble steps as she descended them, remarking that the 
Princess would be here in an hour and that everything 
ought to be “ spick-and-span.” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 251 

Then she brought me the box containing the pearl 
necklace that my grandmother had given me. 

“ There, child,” she said, as she put it around my neck, 
“ the Princess will see that you did not come like a pauper 
to your father. I know what a power of money these 
things cost, for I have seen my poor mistress sell the 
Jacobsohn jewels one by one.” 

She hastily put on her bonnet, took her box under her 
arm, and, without looking round, walked by my side to 
the other house. I had her hand, which I held pressed 
to my breast as I went on passively. But I started back 
in the large hall, for Use did not go to Fraulein Fliedner’s 
room ; old Erdmann, at her request, showed her into his 
master’s “new office.” 

“ Will you insist upon being childish to the last ?” she 
said, roughly, as she put down her box and entered the 
open door. Reluctantly I crossed the threshold of the 
green-curtained room. I had not seen Herr Claudius 
since the evening when I had offended him; I would have 
liked to avoid him always, but here I was forced into his 
presence. I bore myself with as great an air of indiffer- 
ence as I could assume : the weight of guilt lay upon his 
soul, not upon mine, — no, of course not. 

He was sitting, -writing, at the southern window. As 
we entered, he pulled a cord, — the curtains parted, and 
through the green tracery of the plants outside glinted the 
gay plain of the flower-garden. He arose and offered his 
hand to Ilse. I expected, after the look that he had last 
given me, that he would certainly regard me differently ; 
but no, his eyes met mine as full and gravely as when I 
had first seen him in his office, — they made me timid. 

“ Herr Claudius, the time has come,” said Ilse. And 
the grief at parting, that she had hitherto repressed, broke 
forth in her voice “ I must go home, or the Dierkhrff will 


252 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


go to ruin. God knows my heart is heavy enough: 
but you are my comfort ; you know what you promised 
me, and — here is Lenore.” 

Before I knew what she was doing, she took my hand 
and would have placed it in his. He turned his face 
away and took up a book. — I understood the action : he 
remembered my rejection of his hand a few days before. 

“ I will do all that I can, Frau Ilse,” he said, with his 
wonted composure ; “ but time alone will show whether 
I can gain any influence, or be of the slightest service 
here.” 

“ You cannot think, Herr Claudius, that the child could 
possibly fail in respect to you. Lenore knows that, occu- 
pied as the Herr Doctor is, he cannot find time to attend 
to her, and that she is sadly in need of some one to watch 
over her like a father until she comes back to the Dierkhof. 
I must say you are my only hope, and if you did 
not give Lenore your hand, — I know how grave and 
strict a man you are, while she is such a mere child in 
reality ” 

“You misunderstand me there,” he interrupted her. 
What a pang I felt 1 Here was Use reopening the wound 
that I had made. Again I was filled with remorse. I 
might atone now for my unkindness ; but no, I could not. 
I should then be as false as the old bookkeeper, who had 
betrayed his master while pretending to be upon good 
terms with him. 

“ Your charge needs consolation more than anything 
else, Frau Use,” he continued, his eyes riveted, to my 
great embarrassment, upon my face. “ She is so pale, and 
I fear that her detestation of the imprisoning forest will 
greatly increase now.” He took a new key from the wall 
and laid it upon the writing-table before me. “ I know 
where you will easiest forget the pain of separation, Frau 


TILE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


253 


lein von Sassen,” he said. 11 1 have had a new lock put 
upon the gate of the grove, and the key is yours ; you 
can visit the Helldorfs now when you choose, and see as 
much as you please of your little pet.” 

Use looked on astonished, but there was no time for 
further explanations. A carriage rattled over the stones 
of the courtyard. 

“ Frau Use, you must go,” said Herr Claudius, stepping 
to a window and drawing the curtain aside. His carriage 
was standing before the door, and old Erdmann was just 
lifting Use’s box up beside the coachman. 

“ But I am not to go in the carriage !” she said, 
startled. 

“ And why not ? The parting will be much sooner 
over than if you went on foot.” 

“ There’s something in that. There, child, don’t forget 
the key.” And she put it into my pocket. “ I don’t know 
what it means ; but Herr Claudius gives it to you, and 
he understands what is right.” 

She shook hands with him heartily and left the room. 
Without, in the hall, Fraulein Fliedner and Charlotte 
were awaiting us. I could not endure the young girl’s 
sparkling glance and beaming smile, and hid my face 
sobbing on Use’s breast. The strong woman struggled 
against her tears; I heard her laboured breathing; for one 
moment she clasped me to her convulsively. As through 
a veil I saw Herr Claudius standing between the window- 
curtains of his room. He signed to Use to hurry ; there 
was no need ; I put a stop myself to the parting. Press- 
ing my hands upon my temples, I fled through the court- 
yard into the garden, and I was crossing the bridge when 
I heard the carriage roll through the gateway. 

I closed the shutters of my windows, bolted the doors, 
22 


254 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


and threw myself upon the sofa, where Use had so lately 
been sitting. Here I lay for hours in dull misery. 

The Princess Margarethe came ; my father received 
her in the hall. 1 heard Herr von Wismar and the maid of 
honour scolding the crane, who had doubtless approached 
the august lady too familiarly. On the first landing of 
the staircase the footsteps of those ascending were stayed : 
the Princess had paused for a moment, probably before 
the sealed doors. A sudden anguish seized me. Ilse 
was gone, and the moment was near at hand in which I 
had volunteered to give indubitable proofs of all that the 
bookkeeper had said. I took the key from my pocket 
and hurled it across the room as if it burned me. I was 
deceiving one who trusted me. Strange ! whithersoever 
I turned, the man in the other house stood by my side, 
thoughtful for me, grave and silent, but not to be avoided; 
and I rebelled against his care. I had sided with his 
enemies ; I clung to them, as he would one day learn to 
his cost. I buried my face still deeper in the cushions. 
I could not endure even the slender rays of light that 
came through the cracks in the shutters. 

The Princess came down again and my father knocked 
at my door for me. I did not stir, and rejoiced to hear 
them all leaving the house ; but after a short time Char- 
lotte came running along the corridor, and, impatiently 
rattling the latch of my door, called me, imperiously, by 
name. I opened the door, and there she stood hand- 
somer than ever, and magnificently dressed. 

“ Quick, quick, child ! the Princess wishes to see you 1” 
she cried, impatiently. “ What nonsense to bury your- 
self here in positive Egyptian darkness, all because you 
are rid of your old home-made moralizer! Have done 
with such sentimentality 1” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 255 

She brushed back my hair, smoothed out my sadly 
crumpled dress, and put so firm and determined an arm 
around my waist that I soon found myself upon the way 
to the other house. 

ii I was by chance with Dagobert in the garden when 
the Princess visited the hot-houses, ” she said, in a negli- 
gent tone. Simple as I was, and ready to place implicit 
faith in all that she said, I could not but regard a little 
dubiously the careful elegance of the dress which she had 
put on “by chance.” “And only think, your absent- 
minded papa, who usually does not know me from old 
Erdmann, actually undertook to present us, and it was a 
great success, — positively he did not once mistake me 
for Dagobert.” 

I was cowed and subdued as usual at her decision of 
tone and manner. 

“Uncle Erich made his appearance among his aristo- 
cratic visitors quite unwillingly, of course,” she continued. 
“ He was superintending some alteration in the large hot- 
house when the Princess entered with us. I know how 
he is at this moment cursing in his soul our daily papers, 
that will publish, at full length, to-morrow, the account 
of the visit of the Princess to the Claudius establishment. 
But, of course, his annoyance will never be evident ; he 
has robed himself in all the calm composure of his bour- 
geois virtue, and looks as if he were conferring honour 
upon the assemblage. Ridiculously enough, even the 
Princess seems impressed by him ; she smelled at every 
flower, and has gone now to the other house to inspect 
thoroughly the entire establishment, — that horrid back 
office, for example. Ugh — well, it’s all a matter of taste 1” 
We entered the hall just as the Princess was leaving 
the back office. She was walking beside Herr Claudius, 
and held a magnificent bouquet in her hand. 


256 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“Where has the little moorland Princess been hiding* ?” 
she said, smilingly threatening me with her uplifted fore-* 
finger. Charlotte had already found an opportunity, then, 
to tell her of that nickname. 

“In a pitch-dark apartment, your Highness, ” Charlotte 
answered in my stead. “ The little one is very melan- 
choly because she has had to part to-day from her old 
servant.” 

“Pray, Charlotte, designate Frau Ilse more kindly,” 
said Herr Claudius. “ For many years she has done 
everything in her power to replace a mother’s care and 
tenderness to Fraulein von Sassen.” 

“ Then she deserves that your eyes should be so red 
with tears for her,” said the Princess affectionately to 
me as she kissed my brow. 

Fraulein Fliedner here solemnly descended the stairs 
with a bunch of rattling keys, and announced with a pro- 
found courtesy that the apartments were all open. The 
merchant’s ancient dwelling interested the Princess 
greatly; she had expressed a wish to see the upper 
stories, when Herr Claudius informed her that their ar- 
rangement had been undisturbed for many years. My 
father and Herr von Wismar with the young maid of 
honour came laughing out of Fraulein Fliedner’s room, 
where they had been inspecting the glass cabinet crammed 
with curiosities. 

Involuntarily my eyes followed Herr Claudius as he 
slowly ascended the staircase beside the Priucess. Char- 
lotte was right, — proudly reserved and dignified, the 
“ tradesman” seemed to be* conferring honour upon his 
distinguished guests. All at once the gloomy house of 
his ancestors seemed to me to be invested with the same 
dignity that clothed its master; there was an antique 
majesty in the grand old marble arches that re-echoed 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


257 


every word, every footstep, and the broad, massive stair- 
case with its imposing but finely- wrought balustrade. 

The upper rooms had indeed been furnished “ for all 
time” with bourgeois taste and good sense. They were 
filled with the evidences of wealth, although all was 
different from the luxurious splendour that characterized 
the Karolinenlust. Here were no swelling cushions with 
costly coverings of satin damask; but the furniture, 
although carved in rare woods, was as ungraceful, stiff, 
and angular as the straight backs of its former posses- 
sors. No arch cupids or fairies showering flowers peeped 
at you from the walls, but here and there hung some dim 
old religious picture, or the head of a worthy German 
matron, by Holbein, her eyes modestly cast down, and a 
wonderfully painted veil above her brow ; while the un- 
fading colours of genuine Gobelin tapestry and the un- 
alloyed gold of antique leather hangings gleamed on all 
sides, and the windows were hung with magnificent 
brocade. 

The strict spirit of genuine German bourgeoisie that 
breathed within these walls seemed greatly to interest 
the Princess. She entered the open door of the dining 
saloon, and took up in both her hands a silver goblet, 
a gigantic piece of plate that glittered upon an oaken 
table in the centre of the room. With a laugh she tried 
to raise it to her lips, — in an instant Herr Claudius stood 
beside her, and caught the huge vessel as it fell from her 
grasp, and she stood gazing, pale as ashes, at the picture 
of the handsome Lothar. 

“ Oh, God I” she stammered, and covered her eyes with 
her hand. 

Nothing sooner restores one’s self-possession upon a 
painful occasion than affected concern or compassion from 
others. Fraulein von Wildenspring rushed up to her 
R 22 * 


258 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


Highness and attempted to support her. The Princess 
stood erect, and haughtily repulsed her. 

“What are you thinking of, Constanze ?” she asked, 
with a slight tremor in her voice. “Are my nerves so 
weak that you dread my fainting? Is it not natural to 
be strongly moved by such a living likeness of one long 
since departed? I must have left my vinaigrette in the 
hot-house, — will you have the kindness to look for it 
there V 1 

The maid of honour and Herr von Wismar instantly 
vanished in the corridor. Dagobert and Charlotte with- 
drew to the recess of a window, behind the heavy cur- 
tains ; and my father busied himself examining a carved 
crucifix in the next room. The apartment seemed almost 
empty. With a profound sigh, the Princess stepped in 
front of the picture. After a moment of perfect stillness, 
she signed to Herr Claudius to approach. 

“Did Claudius have this painted for you?” she asked, 
breathing quickly. 

“No, your Highness.” 

“You do not know, then, who was its former pos- 
sessor ?” 

“ It is the only thing that I appropriated to myself 
from my brother’s former abode.” 

“Ah, from the Karolinenlust !” she said, apparently 
relieved, — “ from his own apartments. Who could have 
painted it? Certainly not our pedantic old court-painter, 
Krause, — he never could have put so much soul into the 
eyes.” 

She paused a moment, and pressed her handkerchief to 
her lips. 

“ It cannot have been painted long before his death,” 
she continued, slowly. “ That little silver star that 
peeps out among his other orders was instituted by 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


259 


my sister Skionie two years before her death, in one of 
her gay moods at a woodland fete ; it bore the device, 
* Silent and true,’ and of course possessed no worth for 
those upon whom it was bestowed except as a memento 
of happy moments.” 

Again there was perfect silence, broken only by a faint 
rustling of the brocade curtain. 

“Strange!” the Princess suddenly exclaimed. “Clau- 
dius never wore any rings, — he was accused of the vanity 
of not wishing to injure the incomparably fine shape of 
his hand, — but here there is a ring upon the third finger 
of the left hand. I knew that hand well. I had seen 
it often, but always until that last terrible moment with- 
out this peculiar, plain gold ring. Why is it here ? It 
looks like a betrothal ring.” 

Herr Claudius said not one word in reply. His lips, 
always tightly closed, as is usually the case with reflect- 
ive natures, were compressed, — did he see, as I did 
Charlotte’s gleaming eyes fairly riveted upon his face ? 

“ Good heavens ! what tricks my fancy plays me !” 
said the Princess, with a melancholy smile, after a short 
pause. “ He never was betrothed, — no, no, we all know 
that. And yet, tell me frankly, did no one claim that 
picture after his death ?” 

“ There exists no one, your Highness, except myself, 
who has the slightest claim to anything Lothar left be- 
hind him.” 

What ? The answer was so entirely unembarrassed, 
and bore so unmistakable a stamp of strict truth, that to 
doubt it seemed impossible. Charlotte’s pale face, im- 
pressed with a mortal terror, looked out from the heavj 
curtain ; she evidently felt as I did. But Dagobert sur- 
veyed his uncle with a long, scornful look, and a con- 
temptuous smile hovered upon his lips, — he was firm in 


260 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


his conviction that this man was lying. Which was 
wrong? I still hoped for victory for the brother and 
sister ; but I felt that never again could I place faith in 
mortal man if it should be found that such a one as Herr 
Claudius had condescended to a lie. 

The two ambassadors returned from their bootless 
errand to the hot-house, — and the Princess, who had 
perfectly recovered her dignified self-possession, found 
the vinaigrette in her pocket. But her cheeks, that were 
usually a delicate rose-tint in colour, retained a crimson 
hue. 

Fraulein von Wildenspring anxiously reported that 
the sky was covered with threatening clouds, and her in- 
formation was confirmed by the increasing gloom of the 
apartments. Nevertheless, the Princess sat down and 
partook of the delicious fruit offered her by Fraulein 
Fliedner. Those present grouped themselves around 
her ; my father alone was absent ; he was looking through 
one of the most distant apartments, carefully examining 
the antique furniture, — he seemed totally to forget whom 
he had accompanied hither, and his absence of mind was 
smilingly condoned. 

I was full of a nervous dread of I knew not what. 
Suppose the handsome Lothar should suddenly descend 
from his frame and join the party? How like-life his 
eyes looked down upon us, — and how warm and living 
the “incomparably fine” hand, with its mysterious 
golden circlet, stood out from the dark background ! 

Perhaps the Princess read these uneasy thoughts in 
my face ; she beckoned to me. 

“ My child, you must not be so sad,” she said, kindly, 
as I, made shy by feeling the eyes of all turned upon 
me, quickly and involuntarily knelt down before her, just 
as I often used to do to Use. She laid her hand upon 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


261 


my head and slightly inclined it back upon my neck. 
“ Little moorland Princess ! It is a pretty name ! But 
you are no genuine child of the northern moors, with 
that brown complexion, that Oriental profile, these 
thick, dark curls, and the shy disdain in your eyes and 
bearing, but rather a little Princess of the wild Hun- 
garian steppes, at whose feet her robber subjects lay the 
day’s booty every night, who decks herself with costly 
pearls from the Orient. See here how right I am 1” She 
smiled, and took hold of my pearl necklace, that hung 
forgotten around my neck. “ But,” she said, in astonish- 
ment, as she let the pearls slip through her fingers, 
“these are really most magnificent pearls! Are they 
your own, and whence came such a valuable ornament ?” 

“ From my grandmother.” 

“From your father’s mother? Oh, yes, if I do not 
mistake she was a Yon Olderode, one of our wealthy old 
noble families, — was she not, my child ?” 

A movement just above the Princess’s head made me 
look up quickly, — there stood Dagobert with a raised 
forefinger: his piercing glance affected me magnetically; 
his expressive gesture said, emphatically, “ Tell nothing.” 
I seemed to remember, as in a dream, some previous 
warning of his ; but at this moment I was bewildered 
and could recollect nothing clearly. In my confusion I 
stammered, “I do not know.” 

What had I done ? The sound of my own voice dispelled 
the mist in my mind, and I shuddered at the falsehood 
of my words. Had I not declared before all these people 
that I did not know whether my grandmother was one 
of the wealthy old noble family of the Yon Olderodes ? 
Falsehood, falsehood ! I knew as well as I knew the 
Ten Commandments that her maiden name was Jacob- 
eohn ; I had cheered her dying moments, and knew that 


262 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


she had died a Jewess. What purpose could be answered 
by that false “ I do not know” ? I had spoken mechani- 
cally under some incomprehensible influence, and I knew 
that I should despise myself as long as I lived for those 
words. What if all assented, as did Dagobert, to my 
denial? One there would judge me strictly Herr 
Claudius lifted his eyebrows in surprise, turned away, 
and left the room. 

I struggled mentally, but I could not find courage to 
expiate my fault by immediate confession. Shame and 
the fear of ridicule sealed my lips, and the momentary 
silence that ensued upon my reply was cut short by the 
first blast of the storm that came sweeping through the 
streets, whirling clouds of dust against the windows from 
the sun-baked pavement without. It parted the black 
cloud hanging overhead, and an intensely yellow light 
broke the gloom, sparkling dazzlingly upon the window- 
panes of the opposite houses, and throwing pale, hovering 
reflections upon the walls and furniture of the darkening 
room. 

The Princess arose, while the rest hurried to the 
windows; even my father left his interesting investi- 
gations and came forward hastily. In my silent despair 
everything grew dreamlike around me. I saw Herr 
Claudius re-enter the room, dignified and calm ; and I 
saw then, for the first time, why the Princess looked so 
steadily at him when he spoke with her. There was the 
same light in his eyes that shone in the eyes of the por- 
trait — she called it soul — that the pedantic old court- 
painter could never reproduce. She took his arm, and 
he conducted her down the stairs. As I followed, me- 
chanically, I passed Fraulein Pliedner, and there was 
something cold and strange in her glance as it met mine. 
Yes, she, too, had heard Dagobert’s warning in the 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 263 

hot-house, and saw the black brand of falsehood upon 
my brow. I bit my lip and hurried by. The silken 
trains of the ladies rustled upon the staircase an accom- 
paniment to the gentle caressing tones of the Princess's 
voice. I thought I had never heard it sound so sweet 
and kind, as she assured Herr Claudius that she should 
** come again to visit the old patrician mansion.” Frau- 
lem von Wildenspring and the chamberlain whispered 
together for an instant, and then the impertinent maid of 
honour held up her train and looked suspiciously at the 
steps of the staircase, while Herr von Wismar waved his 
handkerchief to and fro in the air, as Dagobert had done 
at the Hun’s mound, — a most eloquent protest against 
the noble lady’s intention. Charlotte was walking be- 
hind them. I saw her face flush and the corners of her 
mouth twitch with indignation. Even that did not affect 
me. I was suddenly roused from my state of stupefac- 
tion by a whisper in my ear. 

“ Brava ! Bravely done, little moorland Princess, — I 
know now that the secret is safe with you !” And Dago- 
bert leaned towards me, so that I felt his breath upon my 
cheek. Had I suddenly received a painful blow, it could 
not have irritated me more than that whisper. I hated 
those laughing brown eyes ; they had tempted me to the 
meanness of which I had been guilty, and that warm 
breath upon my cheek was an insult. This was no longer 
the man for whom I would boldly have entered the lists 
against all foes. He was false, — this handsome Tancred : 
his chestnut curls wreathed above his brow like ser- 
pents. Involuntarily I pushed him from me with my 
hand, and, running hastily down the stairs, seized the 
arm of my father, who was standing on the lowest step 
beside the Princess. 

“ Gently, gently, my child ; we are not upon the open 


264 TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 

moor 1” he smilingly rebuked my impetuosity. Herr von 
Wismar and the maid of honour had stood aside to make 
way for me, and even the Princess turned to see the 
cause of the unusual noise. 

“Do not rebuke your charming little romp, doctor,” 
she said, kindly. “ Let us rather rejoice that her gay 
temperament can so quickly overcome the pain of part- 
ing.” 

It needed but this. Now my indignation would pass 
for the wayward humor of a child ; Herr Claudius, too, 
would thus estimate it. He never even looked at me ; 
I had not deserved any notice from him. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

A sultry blast from without came rushing into the 
hall ; the fragrant air from the garden had grown dull 
and heavy. There had as yet been no thunder-clap. 
Not a drop of rain had moistened the thirsty earth, but 
little straws and minute pieces of paper were whirling 
hither and thither in a mysterious dance in the courtyard, 
and there was a movement in the topmost boughs of the 
poplars by the stream. The tempest was taking breath 
to break out afresh. The Princess hastily got into her 
carriage, and my father, who was going to the Duke, ac- 
companied her. She once more held out her hand to 
Herr Claudius, and inclined her head courteously to 
Charlotte and Dagobert, who replied by a profound 
courtesy and bow. 

In the hurry my small person was completely overlooked, 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 2b & 

and it was well that it was so. I turned my back upon them 
all, walked across the courtyard, and opened the garden- 
gate. I could hardly keep my feet; the tempest had 
burst. The angry wind tore the gate from my grasp. 
With difficulty I seized it again, and slammed it after 
me. It was against the rules to leave it open. 

On I went. Struggling for breath, I staggered along, 
when suddenly a wind arose, with which I battled as 
with waves of water. Beneath it the gay sea of flowers 
disappeared, showing for the moment only the pale 
green of the stalks and the under side of the leaves, to 
return to view the next instant rolling in all its pomp 
of brilliant colour. And how mad and wild the slender 
poplars grew! they writhed and bent beneath the blast, 
joining in its savage uproar ! 

All at once my feet ceased to be upon the ground. 
I was tossed into the midst of the bed of heliotrope, and 
then hurled back against the stone wall. I clung to the 
projecting stones with upstretched arms, leaned my head 
upon them, and let the whole fury of the storm wreak 
itself upon me. I peeped out timidly from among the 
mass of hair blown about my face, for the gate, not far 
from me, opened with a loud creak, and Herr Claudius 
came through it, — he looked around, as if in search of 
some one, and espied me. 

Ah, has the wind kept you here?” he cried, shelter- 
ing me so with his tall form that my hair was not even 
stirred. 

“ Precisely like an unfortunate swallow tossed out of 
its nest,” laughed Dagobert, who had followed his uncle, 
and was holding tight by one of the gate-posts to keep 
himself erect. 

My hands loosed their hold upon the stones, and I 
turned away my head: I heard the same laugh that 

23 


266 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


had driven me upon the moor to seek shelter in the 
Dierkhof. 

“ Come into the other house ; you cannot possibly 
reach the Karolinenlust now,” said Herr Claudius, 
gently. 

I shook my head. 

“ Then I will go with you ; you cannot keep your feet 
without assistance.” 

ft My plaidie to the angry airt, to share it a’,” 

rang in the ears of my excited girlish fancy. No ! I would 
not — they might both leave me. I detested him of the 
smooth brow, behind which lurked deceit, and I was 
ashamed and afraid in the presence of him who spoke so 
kindly and patiently to me. 

“ I need no assistance. I can struggle through it 
alone,” I said, looking up at him through glittering tears 
that would rise to my eyes, although I tried hard to sup- 
press them. My teeth chattered as if with cold. 

Dagobert laughed again ; but Herr Claudius regarded 
me with a strange expression. “You are ill,” he said, 
in a low tone, bending down to me; “indeed, 1 cannot 
leave you alone. Be gentle, and come with me.” 

His inexhaustible patience and gentleness towards a 
creature so despicable as I felt myself to be, and so ob- 
stinate as I had shown myself, completely conquered 
me ; there was just then a lull in the fury of the wind, 
so that I left my place by the wall and walked beside 
him. 

Dagobert was still standing by the gate. Probably 
Herr Claudius’s low words to me, and my instant will- 
ingness to accompany him, had aroused the young man’s 
suspicion, — he laid the finger of his left hand significantly 
upon his lips and shook his right at me in warning 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


267 


Then he went back into the courtyard and closed the 
gate after him. His threatening gesture was unneces- 
sary. Not a word should pass my lips, — first to lie, 
and then betray ! Why, Herr Claudius, much as ho 
might value my revelation of the secret, would surely 
despise me for making it. Yet I could not help thinking 
in deep depression of Heinz’s gruesome tale of a soul 
that had been sold to the Evil One, — such a one was 
I, tossed to and fro, never escaping from the snare. 

We reached the nearest conservatory at flying speed. 
I was not once obliged to cling for protection to my 
companion ; my skirts fluttered wildly, as I sped along, 
my feet scarcely touching the ground. 

Then* in a long, quivering fork, as if madly seeking 
some vent, a rose-coloured flash of lightning hovered 
above the rustling wall of poplars ; almost simulta- 
neously there came a deafening crash of thunder, and 
the first drops of rain fell pattering upon the glass panes 
of the green-house. We hastily entered among the tall, 
strange, foreign plants that stood in their shelter, motion- 
less and unruffled by the storm outside. I glanced at 
my silent companion ; he seemed as calm and isolated 
as the palms around him. Was it because he was con- 
scious of guarding within his breast dark secrets ? 

He had noted my glance, and looked keenly at me 
“Your run has brought the colour back to your lips. 
Are you better ?” he asked. 

“ I am not ill,” I said, looking down. 

“ But greatly agitated, and shaken in nerve,” he said. 
“ No wonder, — how could you else become acclimated ? 
No youthful soul can leave a peaceful solitude and enter 
the great world with impunity.” 

I understood him. How gently he judged me! The 
previous day I should have thought, “ Yes, because he, 


268 THE little moorland princess. 

too, says what is false j” but the time for such thoughts 
was past. 

“ I would so gladly make this time an easier one foi 
you,” he continued. “Awhile ago I thought this could 
only be done by hastening your departure from my 
house ; but my judgment is not infallible, and I might 
intrust you to hands that ” 

“I am not going,” I interrupted him. “Do you think 
I would have endured an hour of the grief of parting 
from Ilse, — that I would not have followed her on foot to 
the moor, if I had not known that my place was with my 
father ? I know that I belong to him, and he needs me ; 
childish and ignorant as I am, he is used to me now.” 

He looked at me in surprise. “ You have more force 
of will than I thought, — it needs much to bring a nature 
fostered in entire liberty of action under the control of 
duty. Well, then, I, too, find your going impracticable 
the idea of it occurred to me only in a moment of great 
depression when I saw you fail ” 

He stopped, and, turning away, bent aside a lovely 
tropical blossom that was likely to be crushed against 
the glass, — addressing himself to the work as if it ab- 
sorbed his entire attention. He would not see how I 
buried my face in my hands to conceal the blush of 
shame. 

“You have no confidence in me, — that is, it has been 
systematically destroyed in your mind ; for you did not 
bring hither with you one atom of distrust in any human 
being,” he continued, gravely. “ My task is a hard one 
where you are concerned, — it has fallen to my lot to play 
the thankless part of the trusty Eckhardt, who warns 
others to flee from the sin that is so fair to the sight, 
and who is hardly rewarded by — affection. But that 
shall not deter me from fulfilling my office. Perhaps 


THE LITTLE ML ORLAND PRINCESS. 


269 


when you have seen more of the world you will under- 
stand that my hand is a faithful one, — faithful as the hand 
of a parent, — covering the sharp corner of a table that it 
may not wound the forehead of his thoughtless child, — 
and your acknowledgment of this must content me. Do 
not number over those grains of sand at your feet so 
diligently,” he suddenly interrupted himself. “ Will you 
not look up ? I should like to know of what you are 
thinking.” 

“ I am thinking that you will forbid my intercourse 
with Charlotte,” I said, quickly raising my head. 

“ Not entirely, — you may be with her as much as you 
like when I am by, or in Fraulein Fliedner’s presence. 
But I entreat you to avoid tete-k-t4tes with her. As 
I told you before, her brain is filled with unhealthy 
fancies, and I cannot endure that you should be infected 
by such visions. I saw to-day how quickly a pure, inno- 
cent mind can be affected by such an influence. Promise 
me to do as I wish in this matter 1” He forgot himself, 
and held out his hand to me. 

“ I cannot !” I exclaimed, as he hastily drew back his 
hand. “I stifle here in this sultry fragrance-laden air.” 
And, in truth, my heart was throbbing painfully. “ Look, 
the rain is less violent, there are trees overhead all the 
way to the Karolinenlust. Let me go !” 

Before the words were fairly uttered, I was speeding 
along the stream, — the storm raged as fiercely as ever, — 
and almost in an instant I was drenched to the skin. I 
shielded my eyes with my hand or I should have run 
blindly into the stream or against the trees, and hastened 
on until, breathless, I reached the hall of the Karolinen- 
lust. Thank Heaven, I was out of hearing of that calm 
voice that touched me in spite of myself, as if it gave 
utterance to a warm, sensitive heart ! 

23 * 


270 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


I changed my dress for my old despised black gown, 
and pushed open the shutters. I was utterly alone in 
the huge house. The fowls were clucking and chatter- 
ing outside, whither I had banished them from the hall, 
where they had incontinently taken shelter from the sud- 
den storm. Cowering in the recess of a window, I took 
the pearls from my neck. My fancy recalled with ter- 
rible life-likeness my grandmother’s failing eyes turned 
upon me. I heard her gasping voice say again, “ Use, 
put the necklace upon the child’s neck. It belongs to 
your face, my child ; you have your mother’s eyes, but 
the Jacobsohn features.” The name that I had this very 
day pretended not to know was written upon my face. 
Could there be a more false and faithless creature in the 
world than I ? Whither was I hurrying ? How often 
in the course of the last few weeks had I been led away 
to folly and deceit I But I would stop in this career. I 
would be good again. I fervently pressed the pearls to 
my lips. I would never again act blindly without con- 
sidering whom I might harm by what I was doing. 

The storm and rain were unabated ; it seemed as if 
rival tempests were battling and hurtling in the air, 
when all at once, to my dismay, I saw two figures issue 
from the grove and run towards the house, — they were the 
brother and sister. 

“ See how one has to labour, child, to gain the road 
to happiness !” said Charlotte, quite out of breath, as 
she entered my room. She threw her broken umbrella 
into a corner, and her dripping shawl upon a sofa, while 
she dried her face and hair with her handkerchief. 

“At last I” she cried. “ We were upon the rack while 
Uncle Erich loitered in the garden, and we could not get 
across ! But he is safe in his counting-room now, with 
Eckhof, whom, to please you, we have not told that yon 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


271 


know our secret. Your father is at the castle, — there 
could not be a better opportunity, — we are masters of 
the field. Forward, then !” 

“Now ?” I cried, with a shudder. “ It must be fear- 
some up there now 1” 

Dagobert burst into a loud laugh, but Charlotte grew 
crimson, and stamped her foot angrily. 

“ Good heavens, do not be such a coward I” she cried, 
in an outburst of irritation. “ I am dying with impatience, 
and you come with such silly stulf ! Do you imagine that 
1 am going to wait patiently and obediently another night, 
when I have been hoping and longing for the departure 
of your odious, old never-to-be-got-rid-of Use, as the Jews 
waited for the Messiah ? — that I will even wait until 
evening to be quit of the terrible doubt that Uncle Erich’s 
decided declaration to-day aroused within me ? I should 
stifle with the throbbing of my own heart. And Dago- 
bert is going back to his garrison day after to-morrow ; he 
must be satisfied before he goes. We will not delay an 
instant longer. Keep your promise 1 Come, come, child 1” 

She took me by the shoulders and shook me. Hitherto 
I had timidly loved and admired the strong, handsome 
girl ; now I feared her, and the way in which she spoke 
of Use provoked me. But I said nothing. I had volun- 
tarily put my head into the snare, and could not with- 
draw it. I silently opened the door of my bedroom and 
pointed to the wardrobe. 

“ Push it aside ?” asked Charlotte, instantly under- 
standing me. 

I assented, and immediately the brother and sister 
pushed aside the cumbrous piece of furniture, — the door 
oehind it appeared. Charlotte opened it and stood upon 
the stair. For one moment she remained still, deathly 
pale, with both hands pressed upon her heart as if to 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


stay its beating, and then she quickly ascended, Dagobert 
and I following her. 

I was right : it was fearsome up there. The tempest 
raged against this corner of the house as if it would 
sweep it away, and scatter to the winds all hidden mem- 
ories, and relics of old, mysterious events and occurrences. 
Bellini the shadowy outlines of the roses on the window 
curtains, the panes, against which the rain dashed in 
torrents, rattled unceasingly, — even the roseate glow of 
the pink gauze draperies was quenched in the gathering 
gloom. To open the door, to take from the latch the 
garment hanging there, and spread it out before her, was 
the work of but a single moment for Charlotte. 

“It is a domino; as much a man’s garment as a 
woman’s,” she said, in a tone of dull disappointment, 
letting the garment fall upon the carpet. With a shrug 
she went to the toilet-table, and examined with agitated 
haste the silver articles upon it. “ Pomade and Poudre 
de Riz, and bottles of cosmetic washes !” she exclaimed, 
blowing away the thick dust that had gathered there. 
“ We know well enough how the toilet-table of a hand- 
some young officer, the pet of the women, is furnished, 

hey, Dagobert ? Lothar was vain as any woman then. 
If you can bring no better proof than this, child, affairs 
look rather dark 1” She said this over her shoulder to 
me, with an attempt at calmness ; but there was that 
gleaming in her eyes that inspired me with a kind of 
compassion for her, — it was dread, and profound disap 
pointment. 

Suddenly she uttered a tremulous scream, an exulting 
cry, that pierced my very soul. She extended her arms, 
rushed through the open door into the next room, and 
threw herself down beside the basket that stood near 
the bed, beneath the violet canopy. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


273 


“ Our cradle, Dagobert, — our cradle ! Oh, God V r she 
stammered, whilst her brother sprang to the window and 
drew aside the dark curtain. The pale and uncertain 
daylight fell upon the little yellow pillows among which 
Charlotte had buried her face. 

“ It is true, it is all true, every word !” she murmured, 
as she arose. May the earth rest lightly upon that 
woman who traced out this mystery ! Dagobert, here 
our royal mother heard our first cry, — our mother, 
the noble daughter of the Dukes of K . How in- 

toxicating a sound that is, and how vanish in the dust 
those daughters of the aristocracy who scorned and 
jeered the adopted daughter of the merchant 1 Heavens! 
this happiness crushes me !” she interrupted herself, 
pressing her hands upon her temples. “ He was right, 
our cruel foe in the other house, when he told me lately 
that I must learn to bear the truth, — I am bewildered.” 

“As you please,” said Dagobert, dryly, and with irri- 
tation, letting the curtain drop again over the window 
“ Rave your fill, and afterwards I should like to address 
myself to your reason, — this exaggeration I cannot under- 
stand. I needed no such proof as this ; Eckhof’s informa- 
tion perfectly convinced me, — and even it was only the ray 
of sunlight that enabled us to comprehend what we had 
long been conscious of in our inmost hearts, our very 
blood.” 

Charlotte tenderly spread the green coverlet over th 
little bed. 

“ Thank God for this proof!” she said, with more com- 
posure. “ My skeptical brain has made wild work for 
me during these last few days. Sweet innocent that you 
are,” she said to me, with a sneering laugh, “ you prattle 
to me of a woman’s handwriting and a woman’s garment, 
both of which are very ambiguous, and utterly overlook 
s 


2U 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


this room with all its details ! Are you really so fright- 
fully — simple-minded? You might by one word have 
spared me all the torture that I have lately endured.” 

I scarcely heard her sarcastic words : I could only 
think with a tremor of Eckhof’s declaration that the dead 
had wandered restlessly within the sealed apartments. 
Everything that had been a part of the secret shared by 
two human souls long since departed was now ruthlessly 
dragged forth from the gathered dust of so many years. 
Even the sister of the dead Princess had passed these 
doors unsuspectingly. What if those two departed souls 
had ardently desired that even after their death the veil 
should not be lifted! They were in the grave, — the 
fair, noble face, and the man with the bloody mark upon 
his brow, — and could not guard their secret from stranger 
hands and eyes. Or could they return to warn away the 
living, as the stern old fanatic had said ? There was life 
here now, where I had seen only the noiseless sunbeams 
glide and hover. Without, the tempest beat against the 
walls ; but within, it died away into a low, sobbing moan. 

The loose curtains waved and rustled like a woman’s 
garments, letting in here and there a pale glimmer of 
light to play restlessly upon the violet bed-hangings, and 
flit across the gray shadows of the opposite corners, 
ghostly as some poor soul hovering between heaven and 
earth. 

It was audacious to intrude thus secretly, under cover 
of the tempest, among the carefully-guarded relics of de- 
parted mortals. My heart beat quickly as I thought thus, 
but I said nothing. What would my weak voice avail 
against such passion and — yes, it was the right word for 
the cause of Charlotte’s actions — greed for position and 
rank ? 

The brother and sister stood beside the writing-table 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


275 


that I had so respected as scarcely to breathe upon it, 
and were tossing the articles about and searching eagerly 
among them. 

“ Here is our mother’s crest upon the seals, writing 
materials, and letter-paper 1” said Charlotte, — her voice 
trembled, but she had regained all her wonted self-pos- 
session of look and manner, — “ and here are some old 
envelopes.” She drew them out from beneath a paper- 
weight. “ Her Highness the Princess Sidonie von K , 

Lucerne,” she read. “ Look, Dagobert, these letters have 
all been sent to Switzerland ; see the postmarks. Some 
friend and confidant of our mother’s must have received 
them there in her stead and forwarded them to the mys- 
terious Karolinenlust.” 

Dagobert made no reply. He was rattling at the lock 
of the table-drawer: the key was gone. According to 
Eckhof’s testimony, this drawer, so securely locked, con- 
tained Lothar’s pocket-book, filled with valuable docu- 
ments. With a shrug and a darkening brow, Dagobert 
turned away, drew aside one of the curtains before the 
glass doors, and looked out at the storm, while Charlotte 
carelessly rearranged the table and walked to the other 
end of the room, where stood a grand piano. In my 
previous hasty visit I had not noticed it. Charlotte 
opened it and ran her fingers over the keys, which were, 
perhaps, never to have been touched again. They at 
least had voice to remonstrate, and answered to her touch 
with such horrid discord and shrill jangling of broken 
strings that, as the harsh sounds re-echoed from the 
walls, even Charlotte recoiled, and closed the instrument. 
She was startled, but there was not in her nature one 
trace of the timid dread — the almost reverential awe — 
that had informed all these lifeless objects with a kind 
of soul in my eyes. She next rummaged through the 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


&7t> 


sheets of music lying upon the piano, until, with a sud- 
den exclamation, she began to sing, in a low but exulting 
voice, “Gia la luna in mezzo al mare.’ , 

“ Here is the song, Dagobert, that mamma sang at 
Madame Godin’s ; here it is, look, look I” — she interrupted 
herself, waving the sheet of music in the air. I did not 
hear her brother’s reply, and turned towards him. He 
was bending over the writing-table, his back to us. In 
an instant I stood beside him. 

“You must not 1” I said, — and shrank from the tremu- 
lous sound of my own voice ; nevertheless I looked boldly 
in his face. 

“Must not what?” he asked, with a sneer, dropping his 
hand, however, in which he held some kind of instrument. 

“ Force that lock,” I replied, more firmly. “ It is my 
fault that you are here, behind those sealed doors. I 
brought you here. I have done very wrong ; I see that 
now clearly. There shall no more wrong be done. I 
will not allow it !” I declared emphatically, as I saw him 
raise his hand again. 

“ Indeed ?” he laughed, — his eyes scanned me with a 
strange fire in them that I had never seen before, — “ and 
how will you prevent it, you frail quicksilver sprite ?” he 
asked, scornfully, and instantly applied the instrument to 
the lock. Frightened as I was, I angrily seized his arm 
with both hands and tried to pull him away ; but in an 
instant I felt my waist closely embraced, and Dagobert 
whispered in my ear, “ Little tigress, do not touch me or 
look at me so ; it is dangerous. Those eyes of yours 
intoxicated me the first time I ever saw them. Your 
elfish malice bewitches me, and the next time you repulse 
me as you did to-day upon the staircase, you are lost,— 
lithe, bewitching lizard !” 

I screamed, and he released me. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


277 


“What nonsense are you about, Dagobert?” Charlotte 
cried, coming towards us. “ Let the child alone, I en- 
treat you. Lenore is my protegee, which should be 
enough for you. And the little innocent is right, too, for 
the matter of that. We ought not to force open what wo 
find locked here. Of what use will the papers be to u a 
if, like thieves, we steal them from where they are legally 
sealed up ? Let them stay where they are until the time 
comes for producing them with eclat. Even Uncle Erich 
cannot remove the seals that be has had affixed to the 
doors. And we need not come here again. I am now 
as certain as that I breathe that we were born here, — 
that we are in our parents’ house; our own by right of 
inheritance,” she added, with some solemnity. “ Hark 1 
the storm says ‘Amen !’ ” 

A furious blast shook the entire building, and dashing 
open the glass door, that I had probably not latched 
securely upon my previous visit, drenched the writing- 
table in an instant. 

“Aha! it says ‘Amen,’ and sets us an example!” 
laughed Dagobert, closing the door again. “It does not 
handle this important table with gloves, but, as you see, 
advises ‘force to resist force.’ According to Eckhof’s 
and your counsel, I must sue to Uncle Erich for every 
groschen that I spend, and be scolded for my debts until 
my hair is gray, — and you are a dependent old maid !” 

“ Perhaps,” she said, and her cheek paled slightly. 
“ I certainly will never marry beneath me, — and I can* 
not endure the coxcombs that frequent the court. I care 
nothing for love, — nothing. My desires lie elsewhere. 1 
should like to be the abbess of some female order : my sway 
would extend over many who have scorned me, — let them 
look to themselves ! I cannot understand you, Dagobert,” 
she said, after a long sigh. *‘ I thought we had resolved 

24 


278 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND ERIN CESS. 


not to make the matter public until January, when you 
will be ordered here, and that the intermediate time 
was to be spent in collecting proof. It will be a hard 
task for me to keep silent so long, — it requires all my 
self-control now to enable me to look Uncle Erich in the 
face calmly, and not denounce his falsehood, to spend my 
days with Friiulein Fliedner, who puts on such an air of 
simplicity and innocence, while she systematically abets 
the fraud practised upon us, — malicious old cat that she 
is ! And I really loved her ! It is almost too much for 
my strength, — but no matter for that, what must be, must. 
Eckhof is right in counselling silence and caution.” 

She wiped the moisture from the table with her hand- 
kerchief and replaced the disordered papers. 

I took no further part in their investigations, but sta- 
tioned myself between the glass door and the writing- 
table, and stood there on guard. I thought I could still 
feel the ground beueath my feet tremble, but the tremor 
was in my own limbs. Never in my life had I expe- 
rienced such horror as when I felt that vicelike grasp. 
If I had been hurled down some dark abyss I could not 
have been more terrified than by that intense whisper, 
which I could only half understand, but which, never- 
theless, drove the blood into my cheeks and temples. 
How I longed to leave everything behind me and run 
away as far as my feet would carry me ! — but fear lest 
the writing-table drawer might still be broken open kept 
me where I was. 

“ Here is our crest; look at it, little one,” Charlotte said, 
coming towards me, at last, holding out to me a seal-ring. 
“ Papa never wore rings, as her Highness told us to-day; 
nevertheless this one exists, and has evidently often 
been used as a seal, — it was lying beside papa’s blotting 
book. I will take it with me : it is the only thing here 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


279 


that I shall appropriate at present.'* And she slipped the 
ring into her pocket. 

I was at length released. We went down-stairs, and 
the wardrobe was restored to its place. The brother and 
sister descended the dark staircase, which Charlotte had 
ascended in such dread, the rightful heirs of Lothar von 
Claudius, and nearly related to the reigning ducal family. 
The solution of the mystery was as clear as daylight, — 
even to me. How could Herr Claudius have denied 
the truth so firmly and with such an unblushing front ? 
And yet, he could not have spoken falsely 1 


CHAPTER XXI Y. 

Charlotte took up her shawl ; then dropped it in a 
fright, ran to the window and opened it. 

“What is the matter, Herr Eckhof?” she cried. 

The old bookkeeper was running across the walk 
below, towards the house. He was without a hat, and 
his usually calm countenance showed signs of emotion. 
He was apparently greatly agitated. 

“ There is a freshet at Dorotheenthal 1” he cried out to 
us, breathlessly. “A loss of forty thousand thalers at 
least for the firm of Claudius. Everything laid waste and 
under water that it has taken years of labour to bring 
to perfection. Do you hear that signal-gun ? Human 
life is in danger 1” 

Dorotheenthal was one of the Claudius estates, an an- 
cient domain that had once belonged to a noble family, and 
was situated, together with a village of the same name, 
in a low, narrow valley. The nurseries at Dorotheenthal 


280 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


brought far more profit to the firm than did the gardens 

in K . The collection of rare trees there was immense, 

— the costly collection of conifera in particular had really 
made the place quite famous. Acres of ground were 
often devoted to a single species of tree, and hot-houses 
filled with palms, orchids, and cacti surrounded the 
old castle. A few small lakes, and a pretty river that 
watered the valley, greatly lightened the colossal labour 
of culture there ; but at present the friendly element was 
metamorphosed into a deadly enemy, — the lakes had over- 
flowed their banks, and the river, sweeping away all bar- 
riers, had united its waters with theirs. All this Eckhof 
called out to us before he reached the shelter of the hall. 

“ What a misfortune 1” cried Charlotte, clasping her 
hands in dismay. 

“Ah, bah ! there is no cause for alarm,” said Dago- 
bert, with a shrug. “ What are forty thousand thalers 
to Uncle Erich ? He can bear their loss easily enough ; 
and, besides, what affair is it of ours ? It cannot diminish 
our inheritance by a single penny. I have no doubt he 
will make a wry face, and the viaticum that he bestows 
upon me day after to-morrow will be most minute. No 
matter, — it was not much better when the shop was all 
in order.” 

His last words we scarcely heard. Charlotte ran out, 
and I with her. Human life in danger ? How terrible 
it sounded ! I wanted to know more. I could not stay 
alone in the Karolinenlust. Charlotte gave me her arm, 
and, unprotected from the rain, we rushed across the 
swelling stream and through the dripping garden to the 
other house. 

Here and there an under- gardener, terror in his face, 
crossed our path, and long before we reached the wall 
of the courtyard we heard from the other side a com 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


281 


fused noise of voices raised in command and complaint. 
Almost all the work-people were assembled in the courtyard 
as we entered it, and Herr Claudius’s equipage was stand- 
ing before the hall-door. He himself, wrapped in a cloak, 
his hat in his hand, appeared upon the threshold. The 
soothing calm in his face and bearing produced its effect ; 
the clamour was instantly stilled. He gave a few orders, 
— his gestures were as free from all hurry and agitation 
as ever: that head crowned with fair curls retained its 
self-possession in every emergency. 

As we appeared, the people made way for us and let 
us pass; I was still clinging to Charlotte’s arm. Herr 
Claudius saw us coming, and for an instant he seemed 
startled ; an angry expression crossed his uncovered brow, 
his eyebrows contracted, and from beneath them a long, 
reproachful glance met mine. I cast down my eyes and 
drew my hand away from my companion’s arm. 

“IJncle Erich, this is a severe blow 1” Charlotte cried 
as she ran up to him. 

“Yes,” he replied, simply, and then he turned back to 
the hall where Fraulein Fliedner was standing. “My 
dear Fliedner,” he said with all his wonted composure, 
pointing as he spoke to my muddy, torn satin boots and 
my dripping dress, “ pray see that Fraulein von Sassen 
has dry clothes immediately, — I rely upon your doing so.” 
He turned away without looking at me, got into his 
vehicle and seized the reins. 

“Take me with you to Dorotheenthal, Uncle Erich J.” 
cried Dagobert, approaching from the garden with the 
bookkeeper, who had meanwhile provided himself with 
a cloak and hat. 

“ There is no room, as you see,” Herr Claudius replied, 
pointing to several workmen who got into the carriage 
after Eckhof, — their homes were at Dorotheenthal. 


282 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


The carriage rolled away, and Fraulein Fliedner took 
my hand and led me into her room. Charlotte fol- 
lowed us. 

“ You are as soaked as a drowned kitten 1” she said to 
me whilst Fraulein Fliedner was getting me some dry 
clothes, — “ but it is very odd that Uncle Erich should 
notice it just at the moment when his tradesman’s soul 
must be wrung by the loss of thousands.” 

“A proof that his is no tradesman’s soul,” replied 
Fraulein Fliedner. Her gentle face was still pale with 
terror, and at Charlotte’s words the lines about her mouth 
grew harsh and severe. “ I have often begged, Char- 
lotte, that you would refrain in my presence from such 
unkind, unjust epithets. I really cannot endure to hear 
them.” 

“ Oh no, — but you have no fault to find with Uncle 
Erich when he takes me to task in your presence, and 
drives me wild with his cold, composed manner !” Char 
lotte cried, angrily. “ If he were a venerable old man it 
would be easier to bear, but my pride revolts against this 
man with fire in his eyes, possessing over us less the 
advantage of years than of power. He abuses us 1” 

“ That is not true,” said Fraulein Fliedner, firmly. “ He 
only rebukes what he cannot allow. If you insist upon 
behaving recklessly and extravagantly, you must submit 
to reproof, Charlotte. Something happened to-day that 
you might have avoided. While Herr Claudius was in 
the conservatory with the Princess, the carpenter took 
the measure of the windows in your rooms. He said 
you had ordered shutters ” 

“ Yes, I have borne the sun blazing in upon me as long 
'S I could,” Charlotte interrupted her, defiantly. “ There 
chould be shutters on the sunny side.” 

“ Quite true ; but it is surely reasonable that you should 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


283 


consult Herr Claudius upon the subject ; it is his house 
and his money that you are making use of.” 

“ Good heavens ! when will the time come for these 
chains to cease rattling forever in my ears ?” cried Char- 
lotte in an outburst of passion. 

“ The time may come when you will long for them 
again,” Fraulein Eliedner calmly rejoined. 

“ Do you think so, my good Fliedner ?” The smiling 
scorn in the girl’s voice was terrible. “ A most depress- 
ing prophecy. In spite of it, however, I am audacious 
enough to hope, indeed confidently to expect, that Provi- 
dence has something much better in store for me.” 

She walked towards the door. 

“ Will you not drink tea with me ?” asked Fraulein 
Eliedner as kindly and gently as if not a bitter word had 
been said. “ I will order it immediately. I have been 
made responsible for Fraulein von Sassen’s health, and 
must guard her against taking cold.” 

“ No, thank you,” Charlotte replied, coldly, over her 
shoulder, as she stood upon the threshold of the door. 
“Send the tea-urn up to me, — the small silver one, if 
you please, — I cannot drink out of pewter, however 
brightly Dorte may polish it. Adieu, little Princess.” 

She closed the door and ran hurriedly up-stairs. An 
instant afterwards the quiet house rang with the thun- 
dering rattle of the keys of her piano. 

The old lady started. “ Heavens ! how thoughtless !” 
she murmured to herself. “Every note falls upon my 
anxious mind like a blow.” 

“ I will go and beg her to stop,” I said, running to the 
door. 

“ No, no, do not go !” And she detained me. “ She 
always does it when she is angry, and we must let her 
anger take its course. But to-day, when we are in such 


284 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS 


distress, — what will the servants think ? They already 
believe her much more heartless than she really is.” 

She made me recline among the cushions on the sofa, 
and busied herself with her tea-table. At any other time 
it would have been most comfortable in the old lady’s 
cosy, old-fashioned room. The tea-kettle was singing ; 
outside, the wind swept in long, sighing gusts through the 
empty streets, and the rain beat steadily against the 
window-panes. The smiling face of the mandarin behind 
the glass doors of the cabinet nodded content, and the 
peevish little lapdog was lazily stretched in extreme 
comfort upon his cushion. But Fraulein Fliedner’s hands 
trembled as she made the tea, and Dorte, the old cook, 
when she brought in the hot biscuits, asked, with a sigh, 
“ Will there be much danger out there to-night, Fraulein 
Fliedner ?” 

My heart throbbed with anxiety. I was deeply pained 
when I reflected that Herr Claudius had left the house 
displeased with me, and I could think of nothing else 
How childishly wayward and obstinate he must have 
thought me when he saw me clinging to Charlotte’s arm [ 
And yet he had remembered to care for my welfare, — the 
welfare of such an insignificant little creature as I, when 
such grave misfortunes were befalling him! My teeth 
fairly chattered with a nervous chill, and I coiled myself 
up among the sofa cushions. At Fraulein Fliedner’s 
earnest entreaty, I swallowed some hot tea. The old 
lady herself took nothing, — she sat silently by my side 

“ Is Herr Claudius in danger out there ?” at last burst 
from my lips. 

She shrugged her shoulders. “ I am afraid he is, 

there must be danger, — a flood is almost worse than a 
fire, and Herr Claudius is not the man to think of him- 
self at such a moment; but he is in God’s hands, my 
child I” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


285 


I was not at all relieved by her words. I had often 
read of men who were drowned, — innocent men who had 
done no wrong, — and he had murder upon his soul. Was 
a murderer in God’s hands ? The torture that I was suf- 
fering compelled me to speak. 

“ He is guilty of the death of a human being,” I said, 
without looking up. 

The old lady started ; and for the first time I saw her 
gentle eyes fairly light up with anger. 

“ Horrible ! Who told you that ? And so thought- 
lessly ?” she cried, with much agitation. She arose, and, 
going to a window, stood there silent for a few seconds. 
Then she came back, and, sitting down beside me, took 
both my hands in hers. 

“ Do you know anything more about it ?” she said, 
more calmly. 

I shook my head. 

“ What terrible fancies, then, must fill your young mind, 
all inexperienced in the ways of the world as it is ! Poor 
Erich ! It was indeed the darkest part of his life ; but, 
my child, he was then a young man scarcely twenty-one 
years old, — a passionate, enthusiastic man. He loved a 
woman, — most devotedly. I will not dwell upon that to 
you. And he had a friend in whom he reposed entire 
confidence, and for whom he had sacrificed much. One 
day he, all unsuspicious as he was, found that both the 
woman whom he loved and his friend were deceiving 
him, — they were both faithless. A violent scene ensued, 
and words were uttered, the insult of which, according 
to the wicked law of human honour, could only be wiped 
out in blood. There was a duel for the sake of the 
treacherous woman ; the friend ” 

“Young Eckhof ?” I hastily interposed. 

“ Yes, the bookkeeper’s son was shot in the shoulder, 


286 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


and Herr Claudius was wounded quite severely in the 
head, — his eyes have never yet recovered their old strength. 
Eckhof ’s wound was not in itself a dangerous one, but his 
constitution, already much shattered and weakened, could 
not sustain its effects, and he died after an illness of some 
weeks in spite of the skill of our most distinguished phy- 
sicians ” 

“And the woman, the woman ?” I interrupted her. 

“ The woman, my dear child, had left Paris long be- 
fore Herr Claudius arose from his sick-bed ; she went 
off with an Englishman.” 

“ What ! she was the cause of all his suffering and 
never came to beg for forgiveness, and nurse him ?” 

“ My little girl, she was an actress, — she received the 
bloody sacrifice as homage due to her dangerous beauty, 
and never dreamed of asking forgiveness, or of soothing 
the pain with her petted hands. A short time after his 
recovery, Herr Claudius came hither, — his brother had 
died and left much to be arranged by his heir. I saw him 
then for the first time after our long separation, and I have 
never in my life seen a human being undergo such fearful 
suffering.” 

“ Did his conscience sting him ?” 

“Not so much that; but he could not forget his love. 
He used to pace the garden like one insane, for hours, 
or sit at the piano ” 

“ Herr Claudius, grave and quiet as he is ?” I asked, 
breathless with amazement. 

“ He was not so then. He sought consolation and re- 
pose in music, — and how he played ! I can easily under- 
stand that Charlotte’s ‘ thrumming’ must often be torture 
to him. For a year he travelled aimlessly through the 
world, and then returned entirely changed, — the grave, 
stern, silent man whom you know, — and took bis place as 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


287 


tbe head of the firm. I have never since known him to 
touch the keys of the piano, I have never since heard 
him utter a hasty word or seen him use a violent gesture. 
He has fought a better fight than his brother, who suc- 
cumbed to his anguish. Erich’s strong mind discovered 
the best medicine for his hurt in labour. And thus he 
became what he is to-day, — a labourer in the strictest 
sense of the word, — a firm, resolved character, who finds 
a spring of healing for the human soul in order and 
action.” 

Fraulein Fliedner spoke with an earnestness for which 
I should not have given the kindly but reserved old lady 
credit. She was evidently carried away by her subject. 
And I sat beside her, gazing breathless into an unknown 
world. It was a miracle to my mind, — this devoted love 
of a man for a woman ! My darling fairy-tales paled 
and lost their charm beside this true story. And the 
man, who could not forget his faithless love, — whose pain 
at her treachery drove him hither and thither like one 
insane, — was Herr Claudius ! Could he really take any- 
thing so deeply to heart ? 

“ Does he love her still ?” — I interrupted the sudden 
silence in a low voice. 

“ My child, I cannot answer that question,” said the 
old lady, with a smile. “ Do you suppose that any one can 
tell what is passing in Herr Claudius’s inmost thoughts ? 
You know how grave and quiet are his face and bearing, 

his Soul is as a closed book. But I can hardly think 

it possible that he should still love : he must despise the 
woman.” 

It had grown quite dark. Fraulein Fliedner opened 
a wdndow, for the room was warm. The plashing rain 
had ceased. The street was silent, but from the more 
frequented squares and places of resort of the town 


283 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


came the hum and noise of human life. The gaslights 
sparkled up one after another on the opposite side of the 
way. They were mirrored in the puddles of rain on the 
pavement, and showed how dark and threatening were 
the clouds that still overhung the city. Their feeble light 
penetrated the room, too, in which we were sitting; and 
I begged Fraulein Fliedner not to light the lamp, — it was 
light enough. I dreaded seeing the old lady’s face; I 
knew it must be so full of distress and emotion. 

Echoing footsteps passed beneath the window, and a 
voice in conversation said, rapidly, “A lame woman who 
could not get away is drowned ! Wild work out there I” 

We arose, and Fraulein Fliedner began to walk rest- 
lessly to and fro. There was loud talking in the hall. 
Fraulein Fliedner opened the door, and we heard Char- 
lotte ask from the upper landing, “No news yet from 
Dorotheenthal ?” 

“ None of our people have returned yet,” replied old 
Erdmann. He was standing in the midst of the house- 
servants, and his harsh voice trembled. “ But they say 
it is terrible out there, and the master is everywhere fore- 
most in the rescue. Cod knows, he never will remember 
how easily such a nut-shell upsets! And every one is 
there ! They say the Duke is there.” 

“ What 1 his Highness himself?” Dagobert asked from 
above. 

Erdmann assented. A door was closed, and the lieu- 
tenant came rushing down-stairs, ordered his horse to 
be brought, mounted, and galloped off. He cut but a sorry 
figure, — my handsome Tancred. 

I crouched down again in a corner of the sofa, and 
Fraulein Fliedner, with a sigh, retired to the recess of a 
window. I thought of the wild waters raging hither and 
thither, and drowning all who could not save themselves. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


289 


It must be horrible to perish iu the gloomy, tossing 
waves! And Herr Claudius never would remember 
“ how easily such a nut-shell upsets,’ 7 as old Erdmann 
said. He had no love for the world or for his own life, 
and he was right. The woman whom he could not for- 
get, had proved false to him, and the brother and sister 
and the old bookkeeper were false too, and I, to whom he 
had shown such genuine, patient kindness, had, but a few 
short hours previously, dragged to the light of day such 
convincing evidence agakist him ! Eraulein Eliedner 
alone was true to him. I looked across the room, with 
a kind of envy, at her delicate little figure, standing mo- 
tionless at the window ; her conscience was clear ; she 
had never done him an injury; she would have nothing 
to reproach herself with if the waters should close over 
those fair curls. That “ if” almost made me cry out with 
sudden terror, but I bit my lip, and listened anew for 
every sound of wheels, every passing footfall. 

Thus hour after hour passed. My father, too, had 
not yet returned. Eraulein Eliedner had sent Erdmann 
to the Karolinenlust to ascertain if he were there. The 
noise of unusual excitement in the city had not entirely 
died away, but it was more quiet. Midnight was near at 
hand. The sound of carriage-wheels was heard at the 
entrance of the street ; with a low cry, a mixture of joy 
and dread, the old lady hurried into the hall and threw 
open the door into the courtyard. The darkness without 
was intense, but I ran to meet the carriage as it came 
thundering over the stones. 

“Are you there, Herr Claudius ?” I cried, my trembling 
voice sounding above the rattling of the wheels. 

“ Yes,” was answered from the coachman’s seat. 

“ Thank God !” I clasped my hands tightly upon my 
T 25 


290 


T1IE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


heart. I thought it would break with sudden relief from 
Buch anxiety. 

The servants came rushing from ail quarters and sur- 
rounded the carriage. Herr Claudius descended. 

“ Is it as. bad as they say, Herr Claudius ?” asked old 
Erdmann. “ Schafer says it is a loss of forty thousand 
thalers.” 

“ The damage is greater ; everything is ruined ; we 
shall have to begin all over again at Dorotheenthal. I 
am sorry about my young conifera, — not one is left stand- 
ing,” he said, sadly. “ Still, time will remedy all that, — 
but here ” And he opened the carriage-door. 

He carefully helped some one to alight from it. The 
light of the hall lamps fell through tne open door upon 
a young girl, who would have fallen to the ground but 
for Herr Claudius’s sustaining arm. Her delicate form 
was convulsed with sobs, and a mass of hair hung loose 
and disordered around a face whose great beauty was 
marred by its expression of intense woe. 

“ Her mother is drowned,” the people who had come 
with her whispered. 

Herr Claudius half supported, half carried her up the 
steps. In the darkness he passed close by me ; his clothes 
were dripping wet. 

Fraulein Fliedner was standing on the topmost step, 
and held out her hands to him. I could not understand 
what he said to her ; a sudden shyness and an inexplica- 
ble sadness drove me out farther into the courtyard, away 
from every one ; but I saw the old lady gently take the 
arm of the weeping girl and lead her away. Herr Clau- 
dius lingered for a moment in the hall talking to Char- 
lotte. It did not escape me that he looked searchingly 
around in the meanwhile: was it possible that he had 
recognized my voice, and wished to assure himself that 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


291 


it was really I, the child who had so displeased him ? Fool- 
ish thoughts I He had more important matters to occupy 
him. How much misery he had just witnessed ! what 
hard tasks were imposed upon him ! And had he not 
just led a stricken orphan girl compassionately into his 
house ? She was not as ungrateful as I ; she had not 
repulsed the hand extended to protect her ; she had 
resigned herself thankfully to the sustaining arm. And 
could he bestow a thought upon the wayward moorland 
child ? Most certainly not. 

He descended the steps again, and stood looking keenly 
out into the darkness. In the mean while, a gentleman 
got out of the carriage and approached him. It was 
my father. To my amazement I saw him offer his 
hand most cordially to Herr Claudius, the despised 
“ tradesman,” and take leave of him with warm expres- 
sions of gratitude. I ran to my father when he reached 
the garden, and clung to his arm. He was greatly sur- 
prised, and could not understand “ picking up his little 
girl so late at night in the open air.” He had accom- 
panied the Duke to Dorotheenthal, and had then accepted 
the offer of a place in Herr Claudius’s carriage to return 
home. Whilst we were walking to the Karolinenlust he 
talked all the while of Herr Claudius. 

“ What a man he is !” he said, pausing upon our way. 
“ The Duke is charmed with his calm self-possession, and 
the quiet dignity with which he meets the misfortune that 
has befallen him. And I took him for a human multipli- 
cation-table I I apologize most humbly.” 

Yes, what a man ! “ Time will remedy all that, — but 

here !” With these simple words he had put aside all 
thought of his own enormous loss, in view of the young 
girl’s misery. And this was the reckoning-machine, — 
the cold money-maker? No, but a “labourer in the 


292 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


strictest sense of the word not for the mere sake of 
gain, but because he found “ in order and action the true 
spring of healing for his soul.’ , Now I understood him 
better. 

I did not go to bed that night; I seated myself upon 
the low window-sill and awaited the dawn. The day 
that began to glimmer faintly behind the treetops should 
usher in a new life for me. 


CHAPTER XX Y. 

On the afternoon of that day I took the key that had 
been given me, unlocked the gate in the wall, and went 
across the road to the Swiss cottage. I knew that Gret- 
chen’s father was a teacher in one of the first establish- 
ments in K ; he should help me to mould myself 

anew. It was not long before I felt at home among the 
inmates of the cottage. Frau Helldorf recognized me 
instantly, and, as I learned afterwards, Schafer, the gar- 
dener, had already told them of the “learned gentle- 
man’s strange, wild child,” who had suddenly made her 
appearance in the Karolinenlust. Gretchen, of course, 
was immediately my warm ally. No one alluded to the 
unhappy scene in the grove, which had been all owing 
to me. 

“ Will you teach me ?”I asked Herr Helldorf, who was 
sitting at a table covered with exercise-books to be cor- 
rected. “ I will learn — learn all that my head can hold I 
I am so old, and I cannot even write decently.” He 
smiled, and his charming little wife smiled too, and we 
then and there made an arrangement whereby I was 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 293 

made free at all times of the cottage, and should receive at 
least three hours of instruction there daily. I informed 
Fraulein Fliedner of this plan, to which she gave her cor- 
dial approval, and, at my request, promised to attend to the 
payment for my lessons, so that I should not have to go 
myself to Herr Claudius’s counting-room. 

From this time I studied unweariedly. At first, in 
deed, the pen was often tossed under the table, and I ran 
off into the forest with a throbbing head and eyes filled 
with tears ; but I always returned with a sigh, and 
slowly picked up the small steel tyrant from the floor, 
and worked away until at last my hard labour brought 
forth results. Writing became no longer a matter of imi- 
tation to me, but a means of expression for my thoughts, 
—it was like a new sense. My progress began to delight 
my teacher; the rather contracted plan of study that 
had been at first adopted was enlarged, and comprised 
music also. Here my natural talent stood me in stead ; 
and before long I frequently sang duets with the younger 
Helldorf. 

My intimacy in the Swiss cottage, of which my father 
approved, and which Herr Claudius and Friiulein Flied- 
ner openly advised, was regarded unfavourably in other 
quarters. Eckhof was very angry, and Charlotte’s in- 
dignation and satire with regard to my daily visits I 
could not understand. I soon learned the whole story 
of Eckhof’s quarrel with his daughter. Helldorf had 
studied theology, and, while a student, had been betrothed 
to Anna Eckhof. Her father had given his consent to 
their marriage, but upon condition that when the young 
man’s studies were completed he should, with his wife, 
go as a missionary to India, — a missionary of the strait- 
est form of Lutheranism. This condition had gradually 
become most distasteful to the young man, whose views 
25 * 


294 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND ERIN CESS. 


had become liberal, and at last he refused to fulfil it, de- 
claring himself hostile to all illiberally and pietistic 
phraseology. At the same time the physicians pro- 
nounced Anna’s constitution entirely unfitted to endure 
the hardships of missionary life in India. Their verdict, 
however, had no power to move the old fanatic’s stern 
resolve, — he maintained that, by the grace of God, 
her physical strength would be found equal to her ap- 
pointed task, and that even if she succumbed to the perils 
of the life to which he had devoted her, she would be 
received in heaven as a martyr to the cause of the church. 
When Helldorf persisted in his rejection of the mission- 
ary scheme, and Anna refused to forsake her lover, the 
old bookkeeper cast his daughter off. 

Thus I could easily understand the old man’s indigna- 
tion at the sudden destruction of the partition-wall be- 
tween the outlawed cottage and the house where he had 
hitherto reigned supreme. But what had induced Char- 
lotte to regard my intercourse with the teacher’s family 
so unfavourably ? She repeatedly told me angrily that 
she did not comprehend how Herr Claudius could in- 
trust to such a child the key of a gate opening directly 
upon the highroad, — some day the garden would be 
overrun with tramps and beggars. She declared that I was 
miserably changed since I had become so “ stuffed” with 
knowledge, that there was no longer a trace left of the 
charming natural “ little moorland Princess,” and that I 
arranged my curls with such chic as showed me to be 
possessed of no small amount of coquetry. When my 
music lessons began she was more bitter and cross than 
ever. I often found her near the woodland wall when I 
returned at the close of a lesson, when she would assure 
me with sparkling eyes, but an air of contemptuous in- 
difference, that from the few notes that had reached her 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


295 


ears she should judge that the small bird had a very loud 
voice; and one Sunday afternoon when my fellow-singer, 
young Helldorf, accompanied me to the garden-gate and 
there took leave of me, she came running towards me 
from the grove, laughing violently, and crying, “ May I 
congratulate you, Friiulein von Sassen ?” 

I did not remonstrate with her, for in very truth I 
could not understand her conduct. She really was more 
quiet with regard to the secret in her possession than I 
had thought she could be. Only in two ways was her 
pride more apparent : in the fact that, to Friiulein Flied- 
ner’s annoyance, she would not sit down to a meal except 
dressed in heavy silk, and in her contempt for everything 
bourgeois. This last was severely felt by young Helldorf, 
whom Herr Claudius was continually asking to the house. 
She treated him with a cool hauteur that often pained 
me, more especially as a relation almost like that between 
brother and sister had gradually come to exist between 
the young man and myself. To my great satisfaction he 
proudly bade defiance to her unkind treatment by ignor- 
ing the haughty girl entirely. I had frequent opportuni- 
ties of observing this, for I often made one of the small 
circle at Herr Claudius’s tea-table, and always in com- 
pany with my father. Between my father and Herr 
Claudius there was much more intercourse than formerly, 
— the latter now frequently visited the library, and my 
father often went up of an evening to the room in the 
observatory. They always sat together during the even- 
ings that we spent at the other house, and seemed to un- 
derstand each other, as far as I could learn, remarkably 
well. I had not heard any reference made as yet, how- 
ever, to the affair of the coin. My position with regard 
to Herr Claudius remained the same, in spite of this in- 
tercourse : I shrank from him more timidly than ever,-^ 


296 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


the secret which I had in my keeping was a barrier 
between us. In January, when Dagobert should return, 
matters were to be brought to a crisis, — how false I 
should then appear if, in the mean while, my manner to 
Herr Claudius became more friendly or familiar ! And 
there was something besides that frightened me away 
from him. Often, when I happened to glance towards 
him while I was talking with others, I surprised him in 
the act of regarding me with a kind of compassionate 
abstraction. I knew what that meant, — he was thinking 
of the falsehood that stained my brow. The thought 
sent the blood to my cheeks and aroused in me the old, 
hateful spirit of defiance. 

Upon his part, he seemed to regard my behaviour to- 
wards him as nothing more than he had expected. He 
never alluded in word or manner to the guardianship 
with which Ilse had invested him, although I knew that 
he kept a strict watch over all my actions, and had es- 
tablished an understanding with the teachers I had 
selected. He would keep the promise strictly that he had 
made to Ilse, however burdeusome its fulfilment might 
become to him. Sudden terror sometimes seized me as 
I saw him sitting so calm and collected among his guests, 
and thought of the mystery suspended by a hair above 
his head. How would he come forth from the revelations 
that were to be made ? 

Thus three months passed. I looked with pride at 
the firm, bold form of my handwriting, to which I was 
now able to give genuine character. I had a correspond- 
ent already — a secret correspondent — in the person of 
my aunt Christine. She had shown quite an exag- 
gerated amount of gratitude to me for the money I had 
sent her, and informed me that she was in Dresden under 
medical care, and confidertly hoped to regain her voice 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 297 

again. According to her protestations, I was her saviour, 
her guardian-angel, the only being who had any sympathy 
for her in her present misery, and she frequently reiter- 
ated her desire to clasp me in her arms. This corre- 
spondence had such an effect upon me that I one day 
timidly alluded to my aunt in my father’s presence. He 
started, and instantly forbade all future mention of her, 
adding that he could not understand how Ilse could have 
told me of such a dark passage of family history. After this 
her letters, which grew more and more frequent, troubled 
me not a little, but I had not the heart to ignore them. 

Other cares, too, entered into my life. We — my father 
and I — were the guests of Herr Claudius as far as our 
lodging in the Karolinenlust was concerned. My father 
had ordered our dinners to be brought to us from a hotel 
in the city, and I had the responsibility of providing for 
the rest of our modest manage. I, who a few months 
before had not known what money was, now anxiously 
counted every groschen, and they were few enough. I 
had gladly undertaken to regulate our small household, 
and had arranged a cosy little tea-table every evening in 
the library, a luxury to which my father had long been 
unaccustomed, but I forgot what it would cost until the 
maid handed me a long bill for provisions. 

“ Money?” my father asked, looking up in alarm Irom 
his writing, when, without a thought of any difficulty in 
paying it, I handed him the account. “ My child, I can- 
not understand this, — what is it for?” He felt in his waist- 
coat pockets, and in the side pockets of his coat. “ I have 
no money, Lorchen,” he said, shrugging his shoulders in 
a helpless way. “ What is this ? I surely paid the hotel 
bill a little while ago.” 

“Yes, father, but this is the account for our suppers,” 
I stammered in surprise. 


298 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ Oil, indeed !” He ran both hands through his hair 
“ Yes, my child, but this is something quite new, — I neve? 
used to have any. Here, — here,” he added, pushing 
towards me a little paper of sugar that lay upon the 
table beside him, — “ this is very nutritious and extremely 
healthy.” 

What a fright this revelation gave me ! 

My father’s income was considerable, but he denied 
himself the necessaries of life that he might increase his 
various collections. Here was the cause of his emaciated 
face, that, since Use and I had taken him in charge, had 
become much less haggard. For his own sake, I could 
not allow this sugar diet. But I had not the courage to 
remonstrate with him ; I could not say one word when 
I saw him give hundreds of thalers for some yellow piece 
of paper or an old majolica vase, and leave himself with- 
out a penny in his pocket. His gentle, amiable manner, 
the almost childlike glee with which he would show me 
his newly-acquired treasure, and my own profound respect 
for his attainments, closed my lips. 

I went to the little purse that Use had left with me “in 
case of need,” and which I had almost forgotten. Its 
contents sufficed for awhile ; but my last groschen van- 
ished at last, and my wearying care began. I could not 
go to Use, nor to Herr Claudius, for I should have to tell 
him for what purpose I desired a portion of my property. 
Now that my judgment of men and things began to grow 
more clear, I remembered that he had expressed stern 
disapproval of the passion for collecting ; I now undei- 
stood all that he said, and I could not expect him to grant 
my request for money. But he would have no right to 
withhold from me what I earned myself, — I need not 
even tell him what I wished to do with it : there was 
instant consolation in this thought. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 299 

Two days after the flood in Dorotheenthal, I saw 
the young girl whose mother had been drowned sitting 
at a window of one of the back offices, bending so earn- 
estly over her work that I could not attract her attention 
as I bowed to her in passing outside. 

u What is she doing ?” I asked Fraulein Fliedner. 

“ She begged for some employment, as the only means 
of mastering her grief. She is writing labels for the 
packages of seeds ; her father was the schoolmaster at 
Dorotheenthal, and she writes a very good hand.” 

I remembered this, when Emma the maid again brought 
me a long account one day, and I had not a penny where- 
with to pay it. With some hesitation I asked her to wait 
a few days. Evidently surprised, she left the room, and 
that evening at six o’clock I went to the other house. 
It was an evening when we had been invited thither to 
drink tea ; but my father had not yet come from, the 
ducal castle, whither he had gone to pay a visit to the 
Princess Margarethe, who had just returned from a three 
months’ stay in the capital. 

I took off my cloak and hood in Fraulein Fliedner’s 
room. 

“ My child,” said the old lady, with an air of some 
flight embarrassment, drawing me towards her, “ if your 
finances should ever become entangled you will come to 
me, will you not?” 

I was startled. Emma had betrayed me, but I did noi 
want to confess my annoyance. I would not compromise 
my father. How would it help me to have Fraulein 
Fliedner lend me the money ? It would only be another 
debt to pay. I thanked her most kindly, and took my 
way to the counting-room, — for the first time since Use’s 
departure. 

As I approached the closed door, I heard Herr Claudius 


300 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


walking to and fro. When I opened it, he turned at the 
noise, and stood with his hands clasped behind him. 
Upon his writing-table a lamp, with a green shade, was 
burning ; the other desks were deserted ; the clerks had 
departed. 

I shuddered slightly ; that tall figure had just been 
measuring the long apartment with hasty steps, and I 
could not but think of the time when his passionate 
agony had driven him restlessly hither and thither in gar- 
den and forest. My presence in the counting-room 
seemed to surprise him ; involuntarily, as it were, he 
lifted the lamp-shade so as to throw a broad ray of light 
full upon my small figure standing timidly in the door- 
way. I felt as if I were in the pillory, but I summoned 
every spark of courage that I could command, walked 
up to him, and with rather an awkward courtesy laid a 
piece of paper upon his writing-table. “ Will you have 
the kindness to look at this handwriting ?” I said, with 
downcast eyes. 

He took the paper. “An excellent hand, — full of 
character ; the letters are firm and bold, and yet not with- 
out grace,” he said, turning to me and smiling slightly. 
“ It is as if the writer had drawn on a steel glove to mask 
a delicately soft, little hand.” 

“ Then it is fair enough ? and is it serviceable ? — I 
should be so glad I” I said, hurriedly. 

“Ah ! you have more to do with it than I thought. 
Did you write it yourself?” 

“ Yes.” 

“And what do you mean by serviceable? Are you 
not content to write so soon such an excellent, and, as I 
can plainly see, so flowing and easy a hand ?” 

“ Oh, no,” I answered quickly. “ I want to write so 
that I may be intrusted with some work ” It was 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


301 


out at last, and I grew braver. “ I know that you em- 
ploy women to write the labels upon the packets of seeds, 
— will you not try me ? I will take the greatest pains, 
and be very exact.” I looked up at him, but my glance 
instantly fell again; there was such fire in those blue 
eyes gazing at me with a kind of melting compassion, 
such glowing eloquence that they scarcely seemed to be- 
long to that calm face. 

“ You wish to work for pay V ' he nevertheless asked 
in a quiet, business-like tone. “ Has it not occurred to 
you that there is no need for your doing so ? You have 
property of your own. Tell me how much you want and 
for what you want it.” He laid his hand upon the iron 
safe by his side. 

“ No, no ; I will not !” I cried, decidedly. “ I will let my 
money alone for the present. My dear grandmother said 
it would be sufficient to shield me from want, and Heaven 
knows I am not yet in want.” 

He took his hand from the safe. I do not know why, 
but hi£ peculiar smile suggested to me that he, too, had 
heard of what Emma had told Fraulein Fliedner. The 
thought depressed me, but also strengthened me in my 
resolution. 

“ You evidently have a false idea of the labour that 
you wish to undertake,” he rejoined. “ I know that, in 
five minutes, your cheeks would burn, and the thoughts 
in your brain and the little feet beneath the writing- 
table would all rebel against the detestable writing n 

“Not now,” I interrupted him, meekly, and ashamed. 
He was quoting some childish expression of mine that I 
had formerly used to him. “It has gone hard with me, 
I don’t deny it, but I have conquered myself.” 

“ Indeed I” The same smile flitted across his face. 
“ You have entirely abjured, then, all the moorland 

26 


302 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


habits ? You despise climbing trees, and cannot under- 
stand how you could ever wade in the water.” 

“ Oh, no, I am not so far as that by a long way !” I 
exclaimed, in spite of myself. “ Indeed, I cannot believe 
that the time will ever come when I can hear the rustling 
of the trees and the merry rippling of the brook without 
longing ; but I will learn to control the longing, just as I 
have compelled myself, against my nature, to write thus.” 
And I pointed to the paper. 

He turned away and looked up at the green window- 
curtain as if he were counting the threads in it. Then 
he picked up a little paper envelope and held it towards 
me. Upon it was written, in finely-formed, firm charac- 
ters, “ Rosa Damascena.” 

“ Remember, you would have to write those words four 
hundred times,” he said, with emphasis. 

“ Indeed you shall see how well I can do it ! It is the 
name of a flower ; and even if I had to write the word 
1 rose’ a thousand times, I could always, while I was 
writing, think of its delicious fragrance, — the fairy-nest 
among its leaves. I used to think it a palace for the 
beetles, — that was one of my 1 moorland habits.’ Will 
you not trust me with the work now ?” 

He was silent, and my hopes fell, for I thought that 
he was raising all these objections only to avoid telling 
me directly that my scribbling could be of no use to 
him. Much humbled, I thought of Luise, the orphan 
girl, — she was still in the house, and every one praised 
her skill and capacity, — of course she could write these 
labels much better than I; it was presumption on my 
part to enter into competition with her. Oh, how bitterly 
I repented having come into the counting-room I With 
a sudden access of my old defiant mood I took the paper 
that I had brought and thrust it into my pocket. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 3 OB 

“ I know that I have been presuming', and have esti- 
mated my capacity too highly,” I said, catching my 
breath. “ When I see those firm, graceful letters,” and 
I pointed to the little envelope, “ I am ashamed of 
myself.” 

I turned towards the door, but he stood in my path. 

“ Do not leave me so,” he said, in his gentlest tones. 
“ 1 am acting foolishly. You give me a first proof of a 
budding confidence in me, and I discourage you. But I 
cannot consent that you should undertake a task at which 
your whole nature revolts. You told me just now how 
difficult you found such purely mechanical labour. And, 
besides, I will not have your hand, hitherto so unstained 
by all soil of money, and the curse that cleaves to it, toil 
for pay. Do you suppose that the human miracle, who 
at seventeen years of age had never seen money, made 
as idle an impression upon me as that produced by a 
fresh landscape, or a variation in national costume? I 
told you at the first that the wayward, antagonistic ele- 
ment in your nature would have to be subdued, — it dis- 
torts a truly feminine character, admired though it be 
by many as lawless grace, — but not an iota of your 
individuality must be disturbed.” 

“ Labour, hard, resolute labour, will subdue me,” I 
replied, obstinately. “ I know that others, too, find help 
in labour. You yourself are continually employed from 
morning until night, and you require those about you to 
be the same.*” 

He smiled. “ I think I have the right to require that 
all should be diligent in their several callings. But do 
you think me such an ingrained labourer as to require all, 
without distinction, to plod on in the same path ? I look 
quietly on while one of my people cuts away with axe 
and saw the superfluous branches of my trees j but I 


304 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


should be quick to find fault if he attempted to touch 
rudely a delicate flower, or brush the exquisite velvet 
from its petals. I should like to see a little less way- 
ward defiance in the toss of that curly head ; but it must 
be the result of mental self- conquest, not of the galling 
yoke of mechanical labour.” 

I was upon the point of losing my only chance to com- 
pass my desire, because I could not possibly regain the 
business-like tone, which he, too, had entirely dropped. 
Eve„ry word that he uttered sounded half suppressed and 
muffled, as if he feared that even a slight elevation of his 
voice might set aflame some passion yet held in check. 
Had anything that had been said recalled the memory of 
that faithless woman ? Moved by an inexplicable senti- 
ment of sadness and pity for the man who had suffered so 
deeply, I had recourse to the only means left me, — en- 
treaty. I begged and implored in a beseeching tone that 
moved even myself. 

His face lighted up as with a sudden sunbeam. “ Well, 
then, you shall have what you desire,” he said, after an 
instant’s reflection, in a voice that vibrated strangely. 
“I understand now why even stern and strict Frau 
Use was at the mercy of the ‘little moorland Princess.’ 
No, no, we are not through yet,” he cried, as I turned to 
leave the room, after a few words of thanks. “Is it 
more than reasonable that I, too, should have a request 
to make ? Do not be frightened, — you shall not give me 
your hand.” How bitterly mortified those words made 
me 1 “I am only going to ask you to answer me frankly 
one question.” 

I turned back, and looked up at him. 

“ Was I wrong, or was it really your voice that called 
out to me on the night of the flood, when I returned from 
Dorotheenthal ?” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


305 


My face flashed painfully ; but I answered, without 

hesitation, “Yes, it was I. I was so afraid ” I 

paused, for the door opened, and old Erdmann entered. 
With an expression of great annoyance Herr Claudius 
pointed to a packet of letters that were to be carried to 
the post. The old man had a letter in his hand, and he 
laid it upon the table, while he put the others into the 
letter-bag that he carried. 

“ From Fraulein Charlotte,” he said, as he saw his 
master look in some surprise at the seal of the aforesaid 
letter. 

“ This need not go until to-morrow morning, Erdmann,” 
said Herr Claudius, taking it from the table. 

In the mean while I had reached the door, and before 
I could be again addressed I was standing in the hall 
with a beating heart. I took a long breath, — old Erd- 
mann had appeard at a lucky moment ; one instant more 
and I should have told Herr Claudius how I had suffered 
that evening upon his account. What did it all mean ? 
There was no firm ground beneath my feet. The distant 
image of the old gentleman in blue spectacles had vanished 
like a phantom, and of all that had impressed me upon 
my entrance into this new world, nothing held its own 
beside the imposing figure of the “ tradesman.” 

U 


308 


TILE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


CHAPTER XXYI. 

I ran up-stairs to the reception-rooms. Three adjoin* 
ing rooms, including Charlotte’s, were always warmed 
and lighted. The doors connecting them were wide open, 
and Herr Claudius liked now and then, while conversing, 
to pace them slowly. The circle that met around the 
tea-table was very small. Two or three gentlemen, 
elderly respectabilities, old friends of the family, made 
their appearance occasionally ; my father and his “ daisy,” 
of course, and young Helldorf were standing guests, — * 
and Luise, the young orphan, was always present, sit- 
ting silent at her embroidery. The bookkeeper excused 
his absence upon the plea that he was growing old and 
must avoid the walk through the gardens upon cold, 
misty evenings, — but he made no secret of the fact that 
the whole tone of the house of Claudius had undergone 
so radical a change that he felt obliged to wash his hands 
of it, and take no part in a course of life for which the 
head of the firm would one day have to answer to his 
predecessors. 

On this evening the rooms seemed quite empty. It 
was a cold November night, the first snowflakes of the 
season were mingling with the fine rain that enveloped 
the earth in mist, and sharp blasts of wind whistled 
through the streets. 

I found Friiulein Fliedner busy with her tea-equipage. 
The old lady was apparently agitated ; her arrangements 
were not made as quietly as usual. Charlotte was observ- 
ing her with a malicious smile. She was leaning back in a 
corner of the sofa half buried in the voluminous flounces 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS 


307 


and pannier of a green silk dress that shone with a metal- 
lic lustre. Her imposing beauty impressed me anew,^ 
the superb figure reclined so gracefully among the warm 
elastic pillows, and yet I shivered involuntarily at the 
contrast between the rude November blasts sweeping by 
outside and the girl’s bare neck and arms. 

“ Pray be careful, for Heaven’s sake, dearest Fliedner !” 
she cried, with an affectation of politeness, without stir- 
ring in the least from her attitude of negligent repose. 
“ The sainted Frau Claudius would turn in her grave if 
she could hear the clatter that you are making at this 
moment among her porcelain treasures. The matter is 
not worth mentioning, — why should you be annoyed ? Is 
it my fault that your Luise is antipathetic to me ? -Am 
I to blame that her weeping-willow face always looks as 
if entreating pardon of God and the universe for her pre- 
sumption in existing? The girl feels instinctively, what 
I declare frankly, that she does not belong in the draw- 
ing-room. It is carrying my uncle’s benevolent whim 
altogether too far to accord her a position to which she 
is in no wise entitled. Good heavens ! I am not a mon- 
ster of cruelty ; but right is right ! Good-evening, little 
Princess.” 

She held out her hand and drew me down beside her 
on the sofa. “ There, sit quietly, child, and do not go 
flitting about the room like a will-o’-the-wisp,” she said, 
authoritatively, “ or else Uncle Erich will plant a neigh- 
bour by my side who will drive me to despair with her 
eternal embroidery, and that steel thimble on her finger ” 

“You can easily abolish one of these terrible evils, 
Charlotte,” said Fraulein Fliedner, calmly. “ Give Luise 
one of your silver thimbles ; you never use {hem ” 

“Very seldom, that’s true,” laughed Charlotte, com- 
placently regarding her slender white fingers. “And I 


308 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


know why. Do you see these nails, my good Fliedner ? 
They are not particularly small, but perfect in shape and 
rosy of hue, and each one is equal to a patent of nobility, 
— don’t you think so ?” And she smiled impertinently, 
showing her pearly row of teeth. 

“ No, I certainly do not think so,” said Fraulein Flied- 
ner, with an irritation that brought the colour to her 
cheeks. “ There is no such patent, warring against hon- 
est labour, to be had from nature, and the stroke of a 
prince’s pen, to which such virtue is ascribed, that, by 
its magic, healthy red blood is transformed to artificial 
blue, — even it has no power to release any one from the 
obligation to work which lies upon every human being. 
It would indeed be a miserable contradiction in the plan 
of God’s creation if the right were really decreed to the 
powerful to sanction indolence. And I must take occa- 
sion to remind you of one thing : it has never passed my 
lips before, but your arrogance transcends all bounds ; it 
increases hourly, and therefore I must beg you to re- 
member that you are an adopted child /” 

“ Oh, yes, a poor creature living upon the bread of 
charity, — is not that what you mean, my dear Fliedner ?” 
cried Charlotte, her flashing eyes resting scornfully upon 
the old lady’s face. “ But do you know, it does not 
signify that to me,” and she lightly snapped her forefinger 
and thumb, — “the bread tastes very good, for I cannot 
rid myself of the idea that it is mine by right. I cer- 
tainly wrote truly to Dagobert to-day, that you decidedly 
play the first fiddle at the tea-table since Eckhof has fallen 
into disgrace. You grow insolent, my good Fliedner.” 

She ceased and looked past the old lady towards the 
open door, upon the threshold of which Herr Claudius 
appeared. 

Without the least embarrassment, she arose and bade 


TRti IjITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


309 


him good-evening. Simply replying to her salutation, 
he went to the table, and held the seal of the letter that 
he had confiscated in the counting-room near to the light 
of the lamp. 

“ Where did you get this crest, Charlotte ?” he asked, 
quietly, but with a degree of sharp emphasis. 

She was startled. I could see it by the twitching of 
her half-closed eyelids, beneath which she examined the 
seal with well-affected indifference. 

“ Where did I get it, uncle ?” she repeated, shrugging 
her shoulders almost playfully; “I am sorry to say I 
cannot tell you.” 

“ What do you mean ?” 

“ Can I speak more plainly, Uncle Erich ? I am not 
at present able to tell you how that pretty seal came into 
my possession. I, too, have my own little secrets among 
the many that are floating about in this old Claudius 
house. I did not steal it, nor did I buy it, nor was it 
given to me.” In her assurance she ventured, in the 
presence of that serious face, to toss the secret like a 
child’s ball, from hand to hand. 

“ The solution of the important mystery is, I suppose, 
that you found it, — although I cannot imagine where,” he 
said, evidently disagreeably impressed by her impertinent 
tone. “ Keep your secret ; it does not concern me. But 
I must seriously ask you how you came to adopt thia 
crest?” 

“ Because — because — I like it.” 

“ Indeed ! You have a curious understanding of mine 
and thine. True enough, this crest is ownerless and I 
care nothing personally for the fictitious nimbus tnat en- 
circles such a little shield ; it would seem that I might 
easily allow you for the future the childish gratification 
of sealing your letters with these crowned eagles’ wings, 


310 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


if you were not the Charlotte that you are ; but when 
oue wishes to cure a notorious gambler one does not put 
cards into his hands, and therefore I must forbid all fur- 
ther use of the seal you have found.” 

“ Let me ask you, Uncle Erich, whether you really 
have the right to do so ?” cried Charlotte, in an outbreak 
of passion. I trembled with terror; she was upon the 
point of cutting the knot at one stroke. 

Herr Claudius retreated a step and regarded her with 
unfeigned surprise. 

“Do you presume to doubt it?” He was angry, but 
he retained his self-command. “ The right became mine 
from the instant that you — your brother and yourself — 
left Madame Godin’s house with me. I gave you the name 
of Claudius, and no court of law on this earth can de- 
prive me of the right to insist that you shall bear 
it without any artificial addition. Is it possible that 
the moment may come when I shall repent ever 
sheltering Dagobert’s head and your own beneath the 
name that I received unstained from my forefathers? 
My brother degraded it when he appended to it that 
folly,” and he pointed to the seal ; “ with my consent 
it shall never be attached to it again!” A scornful 
smile of superiority hovered around Charlotte’s lips ; he 
saw it, and frowned darkly. “A weakly, childish, and 
sickly soul informing so strong and healthy a body !” he 
said, his gaze resting upon the young girl’s handsome 
form. “ You denounce the arrogant pretensions of the 
nobility, and yet foster them, as do thousands of others 
like you, by your eagerness to thrust yourselves within 
their ranks, and by your slavish servility if you are tol- 
erated there. I am not one of the fanatical opponents 
of the nobility who would dethrone them from their ped- 
estal; let them maintain their place. I, too, will pre 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


311 


serve my own position. The significance of rank is no 
longer what it was; if I do not cringe I cannot be de- 
graded. The imaginary power of the nobility has its 
roots in your feebleness; there can be no idols where 
there are no worshippers.” 

Charlotte threw herself back again in the corner of the 
sofa ; her cheeks glowed, and it was plainly with great 
difficulty that she restrained her tongue. 

“ Good heavens ! how can I help my nature ?” she 
cried, with hauteur. “ So be it. I cannot help it ; I 
belong among the feeble-minded creatures that you speak 
of. Why should I deny that if this charming crowned 
pair of eagles’ wings really belonged to my family name 
I should be proud, — beyond measure proud ?” 

“ There is no danger of your being subjected to the 
temptation. Alas for those around you if what are 
called the privileges of birth were really yours I Fortu- 
nately neither your adopted name nor that of your own 
family justifies you ” 

“ That of my own family ? And what is it, Uncle 
Erich ?” Involuntarily she sat erect, and riveted her 
gaze upon his face. 

“ Can you really have forgotten it, when it has sounded 
so much sweeter and more distinguished in your ears 
than the name of Claudius? It is Mericourt.” It evi- 
dently cost him an effort to pronounce the name. 

Charlotte sank back among the pillows, and pressed 
her handkerchief to her lips. 

“ Is your tea ready, my dear Fliedner ?” asked Herr 
Claudius, turning towards the old lady, who, like my- 
self, had listened with breathless eagerness to the danger- 
ous conversation. 

He pushed an arm-chair up to the table for himself, and 
Fraulein Fliedner poured out for him a cup of tea. Her 


312 TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


delicate little hand was rather unsteady as she handed 
it to him, and she glanced anxiously at his clouded brow ; 
could she be his accomplice, — that gentle, kindly, amiable 
old lady, aider and abettor in a course of dark deceit and 
fraud ? Impossible ! Those last words spoken by Herr 
Claudius had again invested the whole matter with pro- 
found mystery. I believed him. Charlotte thought other- 
wise ; I could see in her face that her conviction was unal- 
terable. She sat there like a princess, while Fraulein 
Fliedner handed her her tea. The contemptuous curve of 
her lips had been called forth by the name of Mericourt ! 
What a contradiction to her former self she was 1 Here- 
tofore she had prided herself upon the French name as a 
pledge that no drop of the plebeian Claudius blood flowed 
in her veins ; now she disdainfully rejected it, like a worn- 
out garment, in the belief that she was a genuine Claudius 
—the lawful niece of the despised “ tradesman.” 

Innocent child of the moor that I was, I could not un- 
derstand that a word from the Prince, a couple of strokes 
of his pen, could sever to the roots a bough from the old 
merchant trunk, and ennoble it beyond all recognition. 

Luise entered, followed shortly afterward by Helldorf. 
I breathed freely again, as in a purer atmosphere ; these 
two had no suspicion of the volcanic soil beneath the 
peaceful tea-table, — they interrupted the gloomy silence 
that had followed Herr Claudius’s last words, and when 
Helldorf was present I always felt easy in the sense 
of protection ; for had I not gradually become a petted 
favourite in his brother’s house ? 

Carefully, and with a meaning smile, he handed me a 
white paper parcel loosely folded. I knew what it con- 
tained, — a half-blown tea-rose, which Frau Helldorf had 
been nursing for me, and which she had told me in the 
morning she would send me at tea-time if the bud opened 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


313 


sufficiently during the day. I exclaimed with pleasure 
as I unfolded the paper, and the lovely creamy bud 
appeared, exhaling delicious fragrance, and swinging 
heavily upon its shining stem. 

“ Oh, dear, pray have a little pity for my skirt, Luise ! 
You are tearing the lace off the flounces !” cried Char- 
lotte, angrily, just at that moment, drawing the rustling 
folds of her dress around her. She was much provoked, 
but I could not attribute her irritation to any injury to her 
dress ; she was always indifferent to a rent in the cost- 
liest fabric. I had seen her enlarge with her own hands 
a small hole torn in some rich lace by a brier, because “ it 
looked so ridiculously,” and she would playfully pull the 
ears of Fraulein Fliedner’s little dog for being “ so sweet 
and naughty” as to tear to pieces the trimming of a new 
dress. 

Luise looked up in terror and stammered out excuse 
after excuse, although the injury so sharply reprimanded 
was quite invisible. The poor girl stood in great fear 
of the imperious young lady. It was a painful scene, 
and would doubtless have terminated unpleasantly for 
Charlotte, had not Fraulein Fliedner, with a glance at 
Herr Claudius’s knitted brows, come to the rescue. She 
took the rose from my hand, and placed it among my 
curls. 

“ You look magnificent, little Oriental,” she said, strok- 
ing my cheek caressingly. 

Charlotte leaned far back among her pillows, her long 
dark eyelashes almost resting on her cheeks, as if she 
were going to sleep ; she did not deign even to glance at 
the flower in my hair. 

In spite of the cheerless weather, a few guests from 
the town joined us. The conversation was soon general, 
and Charlotte aroused from her seeming apathy ; she 

27 


314 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


could not resist the temptation to exercise her brilliant con« 
versational talent. This evening her wit fairly sparkled ; 
I thought I had never known her so eloquent. Now 
and then her laughter was satirical and dissonant, how- 
ever, and there was far too much of the bacchante in the 
toss of her head and the free play of her arms and shoul- 
ders, which were freely exposed by her decolletee dress 
There was nothing maidenly in the striking picture that 
she presented ; it was as if fire instead of blood filled her 
veins. 

I sat gazing at her with a kind of shuddering admira- 
tion, when a hand was slowly interposed before my eyes, 
as if to shield them from the sight of her ; it belonged 
to Herr Claudius, who was sitting beside me. At the 
same moment, he requested Helldorf to sing. His evident 
intention of putting a stop, by the young man’s singing, 
to the flow of wit sparkling from those rosy lips, failed 
utterly. Charlotte continued to talk on, in a somewhat 
lower voice, indeed, apparently unconscious that Helldorf 
was at the piano, singing Schubert’s “Wanderer” with 
great power and expression. 

“If you have no love for music yourself, Charlotte, 
pray do not interfere with the enjoyment of others,” Herr 
Claudius interrupted her, with an emphatic gesture en- 
forcing silence. 

She started and obeyed. In proud indifference her 
head reclined upon the back of the sofa, and, taking up 
one of the two thick curls that hung down upon each 
side of her bosom, she nervously pulled it through her 
trembling fingers. She did not even raise her eyes when 
the young man left the piano and received the enthusi- 
astic thanks of all present. 

One of the gentlemen then entreated her to sing a duet 
with Helldorf. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


315 


*' No, not to-night; I am not in tune,” she said, negli- 
gently, not altering her attitude or raising her eyes. 

I saw Helldorf’s handsome face turn pale to the very 
lips. I pitied him greatly ; I could not endure to have 
one of the family that had grown so dear to me pained, — 
I arose, courageously. 

“ I will sing the duet with you, if you like,” I said, 
with something of a tremor in my voice, it is true, for I 

seemed to myself to be doing something superhuman, 

preternatural. 

And he knew it, for he was well aware of my dread of 
a strange audience. With a grateful glance he took my 
hand, and touched it with his lips ; then we went to the 
piano. 

I think I never in my life sang so well, or with so 
much feeling, as upon that evening. Some powerful 
emotion, incomprehensible to myself, soon conquered the 
timidity that veiled the first tones of my voice. During 
the song, one by one of those present gathered around 
us, and at its close we were fairly overwhelmed with 
applause. I, in especial, was exalted to the skies, as a 
lark, a flute, and Heaven only knows what beside. 

Charlotte, too, came rustling towards us. She rushed 
up to me and put her arm about my waist. I was terri- 
fied, for she bent down towards me so that I could see the 
glittering tears in her eyes, which she was trying with 
firmly-closed lips and heaving chest to suppress. If I 
had only then had the slightest idea what the passion 
was that moved her so terribly, how easily I could have 
soothed her, and how gladly would I have done so ! But 
as it was, she inspired me with dread, and involuntarily 
I tried to free myself from her clasping arm. 

“ What a little moorland lark it is I” she laughed. “ Her 
tiny form might be crushed with a single effort.” And 


316 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


she held my waist in such a grasp that I almost lost n / 
breath. “ But she can warble so that the glass rattles ia 
the windows 1” 

Before I knew what she was about, she had, while ap- 
parently caressing me, drawn me away from the circle 
around the piano into the comparative darkness of the 
other end of the room. She passed her hand swiftly 
over my head, and the rose in my curls was tossed far 
into the adjoining apartment. 

“ Charming little coquette, you have played your part 
to admiration! — who would have suspected that there 
was such danger lurking in the barefooted little gipsy V 9 
she whispered, evidently commanding her voice with dif- 
ficulty. “ Do you know how those whom all delight to 
applaud are treated ?” she continued in a louder tone. 
“ They are elevated far above the common herd. Look, 

- — thus, thus, — you airy, fairy thing, — you charming 
nothing 1” 

In an instant I was lifted from the floor, and held so high 
that I could almost have touched the ceiling of the apart- 
ment, for none of the rooms in this story of the old house 
were very lofty. Borne aloft in those strong, shapely 
arms, I was no more than thistle-down flung into the 
air, — a helpless child, — a “nothing.” I had not even 
control of my voice, — shame and terror destroyed all 
power of utterance. I was at the mercy of one bereft of 
reason. 

Laughing, she bore me through the rooms, while I in- 
voluntarily closed my eyes. Suddenly I felt a crash* 
ing blow upon my head, — it had come in contact with 
the heavy bronze chandelier that hung low in the farthest 
apartment. I gave one trembling cry ; all present rushed 
towards us, and Charlotte, frightened, let me slip to the 
floor. As through a veil I saw that Herr Claudius’s 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 317 


arms received me, and then black, mysterious darkness 
encompassed me. 

How long I remained unconscious I do not know, but I 
seemed to come gradually to myself, much as I used so 
often to awake when a child in Use’s lap. I was gently 
supported, and now an.d then a whisper swept by my ear 
like a breath. I could not understand it, but it sounded 
precisely like Use’s rare terms of endearment, that were 
so seldom heard by me when wide awake. The heart, 
however, against which my head reclined, was beating loud 
and fast, not like Use’s, and when at last I opened my 
eyes, I looked into a colourless face, whose expression of 
passionate alarm I shall never forget. 

Suddenly I awoke to where I was, and with a burning 
blush raised my head, that the sudden movement caused 
to ache terribly. Instantly the arm around me was with- 
drawn, and Herr Claudius, who had been sitting beside 
me upon the sofa, sprang up. 

“ My dear, sweet child ! thank God for a sight of those 
large eyes again !” cried Fraulein Fliedner, her voice 
trembling as she wrung out a linen cloth from a bowl 
of water. 

I put my hand to my head ; it was bandaged, and the 
cold water that had been applied to it was trickling down 
from my left temple. More quickly than I myself should 
have supposed possible, I regained my self-control, and 
conquered the strange, mysterious emotion that had 
thrilled through me so deliciously for a moment. I in- 
stantly thought of Charlotte, and the lecture she would 
have to undergo. It was incumbent upon me to stand up 
strong and well as soon as possible. 

“ What folly have I been about ?” I asked, sitting erect 
with energy. 


27 * 


318 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ You fainted a little, my darling,” said Fraulein Flied 
ner, evidently rejoiced at my vivacity. 

“ Am I really such a worthless creature ? What would 
Ilse say ? She has no patience with women with weak 
uerves. Let me take off the bandage now, Fraulein 
Fliedner. It really is not necessary.” And I put up my 
hand. “ Oh, my rose !” I cried, involuntarily. 

“ You shall have it again,” said Herr Claudius, quietly, 
— and I saw his chest heave with something like a sigh. 
He went into the adjoining room where the rose lay and 
picked it up from the floor. 

“ I must take great care of it, for Frau Helldorf has 
been nursing it for ever so long on purpose for me, — 
together we have watched every leaf unfold,” I said, 
looking up at him as he handed it to me. 

These few words produced a strange effect, — every 
trace of depression vanished from Herr Claudius’s coun- 
tenance; and Charlotte, who had fled behind the cur- 
tains of a windowed recess when the catastrophe occurred, 
came quickly towards me, and threw herself upon her 
knees beside me. 

“ Little Princess,” she said, in broken tones of entreaty, 
holding her right hand out to me, imploring forgiveness. 

Herr Claudius stepped between us. I trembled. I had 
never seen anger flaming in those dark-blue eyes before 

“You shall not touch her! Never again! I shall 
know how to shield her from you in future !” he cried, 
and pushed her hand away. How implacably hard and 
cruel that calm, gentle voice could sound ! 

Fraulein Fliedner looked up at his face in dismay : for 
the first time for long years, passion, the last sparks of 
which had seemed extinguished, burst through the bar- 
riers of that stern, unexampled self-command which he 
had learned to maintain so constantly. The old lady 


TRE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


-319 


noiselessly closed the door ; the gentlemen were still in 
Charlotte’s drawing-room. 

“ I repent, bitterly repent, the moment when I thought 
to surround you, beneath my care, with a purer atmos- 
phere,” he continued, with the same emphasis. “I have 
drawn water in a sieve, — nature is nature, — and the law- 
less blood in your veins ” 

“ Say rather the ‘proud’ blood, uncle,” she interrupted 
him, rising from the floor ; she was pale as death, and the 
head, arrogantly erect, seemed transformed to marble in 
its contemptuous repose. 

“ Proud ?” he repeated, with a bitter smile. “ Pray 
tell me how and on what occasion you display the pride 
that becomes a woman ? When, as just now, you in- 
dulged in the wild humour of a bacchante, bereft of 
all feminine dignity ?” 

She recoiled as if he had struck her. 

“ And what do you call proud ?” he went on, inexora- 
bly. “ Your unjustifiable greed for rank and position, — . 
your heartless and degrading treatment of those whom 
you consider your inferiors ? Your conduct often incenses 
me greatly, and unconsciously you yourself destroy the 
ground already crumbling beneath your feet. Have a 
care ” 

“Of what, TJncle Erich?” she interrupted him, coldly 
and contemptuously. “Have we not, my brother and 
myself, passed through all the stages of oppression ? Can 
there be one chord in our highly-strung natures that you 
have not rudely and dissonantly struck, asserting its utter 
want of harmony with practical — or rather homely — 
existence ? Have you not done your best whenever you 
could to destroy our ideals ?” 

“ Yes, — as venomous reptiles, — creations of disordered 
brains, utterly at variance with morality and a genuine 


320 TEE little moorland princess. 

and elevated conception of human nature. There is not 
an atom of nobility in your souls. There is not even 
room there for gratitude. ” 

“ I would thank you for the bread that I have eaten 
if I had not the right to ask more from you !” she flashed 
out. 

“For Heaven’s sake, hush, Charlotte!” cried Fraulein 
Fliedner, catching her by the arm. She angrily shook 
off the old lady’s hand. 

Herr Claudius regarded the girl’s erect, menacing fig- 
ure in utter amazement. “ And what do you ask ?” he 
inquired, with recovered composure. 

“ First of all, to know who I am !” 

“ You wish to hear the truth ?” 

“ Yes, tell it me ; I need not fear it !” she gasped, with 
a kind of triumph. 

He turned away and walked once up and down the 
room ; in the intense quiet, I thought I ought to hear the 
throbbing of feverish pulses. 

“No, not now, not just when you have so deeply 
offended and irritated me, — it would be an ignoble re- 
venge !” he said, at last, pausing before her. He raised 
his arm and pointed towards the door. “ Go, — you never 
were less fit to hear the truth than at this moment.” 

“I knew it!” she laughed aloud, and swept out into 
the corridor. 

With trembling hands Frattlein Fliedner put a fresh, 
cold bandage around my head and then left me to “ see 
to the gentlemen again.” 

My heart beat. I was alone with Herr Claudius, whc 
seated himself beside me. 

“ An unhappy scene, ill suited for these startled eyes 
which I would so gladly guard from all experience Oi 
evil!” he said, in uncertain tones. “ You have seen me 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


321 


angry. I am very sorry ! The dawning confidence in 
me that you showed to-day has vanished without leaving 
a trace. I can readily understand that.” 

I shook my head. 

“Not yet?” he said, the light in his eyes chasing their 
previous gloom. “ I know and can almost always smother 
the subtle flame that steals upward to my brain ; but not 
to day, when I heard your cry and saw the blood trickle 
down your pale cheek.” He arose and walked through 
the room, as if the remembrance of the scene were too 
much for him. 

His glance rested upon the old-fashioned chandelier de- 
pending from the ceiling. “Evil old house!” he said, 
standing still. “ There is sorcery in its ancient walls 
and furniture 1 understand now why the Karolinenlust 
was built. I comprehend old Eberhard Claudius. My 
beautiful ancestress faded like a flower here, — the gloomy 
rooms were a quiet, peaceful home enough for prosaic 
women whose hearts were bound up in the order of their 
household ; but they have always been perilous to women 
who were idolatrously -adored and cherished.” 

The intense emotion in his voice thrilled me to my in- 
most soul. These were the tones that he used to that 
faithless love, — how, how could she ever have forsaken 
him ? 

“Your innocent, childlike nature shrank instinctively 
from these cold, dark apartments/-' he continued, again 
seating himself beside me. 

“Yes, but that was at first,” I interrupted him, 
eagerly, “ when I had just left the moor, and every 
strange room seemed a prison to me,-^that was very 
childish. It is not light at the Dierkhof ; the panes in 
the windows are thick and dull, the sun only peeps 
through them, and the Fleet is always in twilight, al- 
V 


322 THE little moorland princess. 

though there is broad, warm sunlight on the moor. No; 
I like it now, this old house. I see it with quite other 
eyes ; and since I have read about Augsburg and the 
Fugger, it seems to me that these dames, with veils above 
their brows, must descend from their frames and meet me 
in the passages, and on the broad marble staircase.” 

“Aha, the little moorland Princess transfigures even 
this dull home with the play of her fancy! You can 
endure the old merchant-house now, then, and would not 
flee to the Karolinenlust ?” 

“No; it is cosier, and more like home here. Was 
there no one in this house to love your beautiful an- 
cestress ?” 

What had I said that he should start and gaze at 
me so? 

The door opened, and Fraulein Fliedner entered with 
a physician who had been sent for, followed by my 
father. He was at first much alarmed by my accident, 
but the physician assured him that there was not the 
slightest cause for anxiety. One of my curls fell beneath 
the scissors, and a small bandage was put on ; it was 
decreed, however, that I must not brave the night air. 
For the first time I slept, guarded by Fraulein Flied- 
ner, beneath the roof of the other house. Through my 
slightly feverish dreams hovered a little figure, a veil 
about her brow like the ancient Claudius dames; she 
swept through the echoing corridors, and down the 
broad marble staircase, but her feet never touched the 
cold stone ; flowers from the garden were strewn upon 
her pathway, and in this little figure I recognized, with 
ru indescribable sensation of happiness, — myself 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


323 


CHAPTER XXYII. 

The next morning, when a pale, cold sunbeam fell 
across my bed, the delightful vision vanished to thinnest 
air. I felt ashamed without knowing wherefore, and 
in spite of Fraulein Eliedner’s remonstrances I sprang 
out of bed, dressed myself with trembling hands, and 
ran to the Karolinenlust. I fled from the other house. 
But I could not escape the keen glance against which I 
was helpless; strangely enough Herr Claudius, who 
until then had opposed to my repellant demeanour a 
stern gravity, a perfect reserve, never retreated a hair’s 
breadth from the position he had taken upon the evening 
of the accident. He had once held me in his sheltering 
embrace, and it seemed as if that were to continue, invisi- 
bly, forever. My fleeing timidly at sight of him, my 
drooping eyelids when he spoke to me, my silence in his 
presence, all produced no effect; he continued to speak 
to me in the same familiar tone he had once adopted, 
and his clear brow was unclouded. He held me in an 
iron clasp without touching me ; his declaration that he 
should know how to protect me was verified in every 
respect. He spent almost more time in his observatory 
than in his counting-room. There were no more gather- 
ings at the tea-table in the other house, but instead Herr 
Claudius often made one at our little table in the Karo- 
linenlust; and when the wintry wind howled outside, so 
that even the heavy, closely-drawn library curtains were 
lightly stirred, my father would read aloud to his two 
listeners one of his world-renowned essays. Herr Claudius 
would listen with profound attention, only now and then 


324 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


making some comment, at which my father would pause 
in amazement, — for it was sure not only to be original 
and striking, but to be based upon an amount of scientific 
knowledge for which the man of science had by no 
means given the “ tradesman” credit. 

Our agreement with respect to my writing for the firm 
was carried out. I procured my work through Fraulein 
Fliedner, also delivering it to her when it was completed, 
and I was greatly surprised at the amount of money 
that could be earned by writing, for not only were my 
housekeeping bills promptly paid, but I always had a 
small sum laid by for emergencies. 

What a change 1 I knew I was irrevocably ensnared, 
and fast bound to another, and yet I no longer envied 
the birds that could fly over the moorland as they pleased. 
I could have shouted aloud in my ecstasy, and proclaimed 
abroad that I was a captive. If I desired now to dash 
my head against the imprisoning trees, it was but that I 
might once again have the bliss of seeing how another 
could suffer upon my account. For the sake of that other 
I forgot the whole world, and the fact that two sins were 
upon my soul, — the sin of falsehood and my concealed 
complicity in a secret that touched Herr Claudius so 
nearly. What a fall there was from my heaven when- 
ever Charlotte’s voice fell on my ear or her imposing form 
appeared in sight ! True, she now wrapped herself in a 
cloak of proud reserve. The day after that eventful 
evening she came to my room. “ I will not touch you, — . 
my breath shall not even brush your cheek!” she said, 
with bitter emphasis, as she stood upon the threshold of 
the door. “ I only want that there should be peace between 
us, little Princess. Forgive me the pain I caused you !” 
I ran to her and seized her hand. 

“ Did you see how hard I pushed our tyrant last even 


TUE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


325 


ing ? He is lost ! I walk through this tradesman’s house 
with compressed lips and muffled pulses. Every mouth- 
ful that I eat is embittered by rage, by impatience ; but 
I will endure to the last. I must guard our precious 
treasure in the writing-table above you here. I dare not 
do anything until Dagobert comes. How I shall rejoice 
to leave the old shop forever, and take up my abode in 
the home of my parents !” 

At this passionate outburst I dropped her hand and 
retreated. Since then we had seldom been alone to- 
gether ; only upon the occasions when I returned from 
visiting the Princess in a court equipage, she received me 
in the courtyard and accompanied me through the garden 
to hear all that I had to relate. Shortly after her visit to 
the Claudius house, the Princess had a rheumatic attack, 

and was ordered away from K for her health, by her 

physician. During her absence, of course, I did not go 
to court ; but now I went regularly twice a week, at 
which times only did Herr Claudius’s face wear a cold 
frown. 

Thus, amid joy and dread, amid inward struggles and 
intervals of peaceful repose, the weeks sped away, and 
the last days of January arrived, bringing Dagobert with 
them. I was seized by mortal terror when I heard that 
the Herr Lieutenant had come with bag and baggage ; 
the dreaded moment loomed up before me so gloomy and 
monstrous, and withal so near, that I would gladly have 
closed my eyes that I might not see it, and yet I said to 
myself that the keen, sharp stroke of deliverance was 
infinitely to be preferred to this fluctuating between 
hope and fear. Let it come, and come soon; then my 
wretched complicity would be over, and I could speak, 
and confess the wrong of which I had been guilty. 

Those were hard days for me, for I had another weight 
28 


326 


the little moorland princess. 


burdening my soul. My father suddenly appeared 
changed. His actions and manner reminded me of the 
time when he had wished to purchase the medal ; he did 
not eat, and I could hear him restlessly pacing to and 
fro in his room at night. Letters came for him in quan- 
tities from all directions, and with each fresh one that he 
opened, the feverish flush upon his hollow cheek deep- 
ened. He wrote much, but not in the manuscript describ. 
ing the curiosities of the Karolinenlust, — it lay untouched 
upon his writing-table. I listened eagerly to the mutter 
of his soliloquies as he walked up and down the library, 
but I could not distinguish a word, and I did not venture 
to question him for fear of irritating him. 

I shall never forget the hour when he was driven to dis- 
close the disquiet that cost him so much pain to suppress. 
It was one of those sombre melancholy winter afternoons 
that weigh like lead upon the face of nature and the soul 
of man. My father withdrew to his room after dinner, 
taking with him the newspapers, at which he had scarcely 
glanced. A few minutes afterwards I heard him leave 
his room, slam the door to after him, and rush up-stairs 
into the library. I followed him timidly. 

“ Father !” I cried, throwing my arms around him as 
he passed me without noticing me. 

I must have looked much frightened, for he ran his 
hands through his hair and evidently tried to appear 
composed. 

“It is nothing, Lorchen,” he said, in a forced tone. 
“ Go down-stairs again, my child. They lie 1 They 
grudge your father his fame ; they know that to question 
his authority is to give him the death-blow. And they are 
crowding upon him, each with a stone ready to hurl at 
him. Yes, stone him ! stone him ! he has been a shining 
light too long 1” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


321 


He suddenly paused, and looked over my head towards 
the door. A lady had entered noiselessly, — a tall figure 
fn a black velvet cloak and a broad ermine collar. She 
threw back her veil. Heavens, what beauty ! I thought 
of Snow-white-and-Rose-red. Eyes black as ebony, a 
white brow, and cheeks of a delicate rose colour. 

My father stared at her in amazement while she ap- 
proached us with uncertain steps. A slight smile was 
upon her lips as she glanced archty aside at my father. 
A charming glance ; it was almost childlike in its inno- 
cence, and yet I could not help thinking that the heart 
behind that simple demeanour was throbbing with anxiety, 
for I noticed that her cherry lips twitched nervously. 

“ He does not know me,” she said in a harmonious 
voice, as my father continued silent. “I must remind 
him of the time when we played together in the garden 
at Hanover, and the elder sister, if she proved an unruly 
steed, often felt Willibald’s little whip. Do you not re- 
member ?” 

My father recoiled as if the claws of some monster had 
appeared from out of the beautiful woman’s velvet cloak. 
He regarded her with an icy stare. I could not have be- 
lieved that a man so gentle, so absent-minded, could 
suddenly have adopted so hard and repellant a manner. 

“I can hardly believe that Christine Wolf, who once 
lived beneath the roof of my father, Herr von Sassen, 
has indeed crossed my threshold.” 

“Willibald ” 

“I must beg you,” he interrupted her, raising his 
hand with a forbidding gesture. “ We have nothing in 
common ! A mistaken woman, who left her mother’s 
house secretly, impelled by an invincible love of art, I 
would receive immediately. I will have nothing what* 
ever to do with a thief.” 


328 


TILE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ Oh, heavens !” She clasped her hands and raised her 
eyes to heaven. I could not understand how he could 
resist that Madonna face, although the word “ thief’’ had 
fairly electrified me. “Willibald, have mercy! Do not 
judge so sternly that one sin of my youth,” she implored. 
“How could I begin empty-handed the career for which 
my very soul longed ? My mother refused me a single 
penny, as you know, and yet I asked such a trifle from 
her.” 

“ Only twelve thousand thalers that you took with you 
from her locked desk.” 

“ Had I not a right to them, Willibald ? Tell me your- 
self.” 

“And to the diamonds, also, of the Baroness Hanke, 
then a guest in our house, that vanished as you did with- 
out a trace, — -jewels that my mother was obliged to replace 
at an immense sacrifice, to shield our house from public 
disgrace ?” 

“ Lies ! lies !” she screamed. 

“ Go out of the room, Lorchen ; this is not fit for you 
to hear 1” said my father. And he conducted me towards 
the door. 

“No, do not go, my sweet child! Have pity, and 
help me to convince him that I am innocent ! Yes, you 
are Lenore ! What gloriously lovely eyes !” She put her 
arms around me and kissed my eyelids ; the soft velvet 
cloak fell around me, and her dress exhaled a delicious 
odour of violets that intoxicated me. 

With a rude hand my father drew me away. “ Do 
not beguile my innocent child,” he said angrily, as he 
closed the door behind me. 

I went down -stairs and crouched upon the lowest 
step, as if stunned. That, then, was my Aunt Christine, 
— “ the blot upon the family,” as Ilse called her ; “ the 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


329 


star,” as she had called herself. She was a star, this 
entrancingly-beautiful woman. All that I had ever read 
of female loveliness paled beside the delicate colour, the 
youthful charm, of my aunt’s face ! How thick and heavy 
the black curls lay upon the white ermine 1 How the un- 
furrowed brow shone, with the delicate blue veins show- 
ing above the temples ! And oh, that sweet, caressing 
voice : it had come again, — the baths had restored it ! 
Could those slender hands that had caught me so ten- 
derly to her breast ever have stolen ? Could such a 
fascinating woman be a thief? No, no ; her indignation 
at such an accusation disproved it utterly ; had I not 
seen the tears shining in her eyes ? 

With a beating heart I listened to the voices up-stairs 
in the library, — I could not catch a word of the conver- 
sation, and it did not last long. The door opened. “ God 
forgive you !” I heard my aunt say, and then came the 
rustle of her skirt upon the staircase. Her steps grew 
slower and feebler ; suddenly she covered her eyes with 
her hand, and leaned against the wall. I sprang up the 
steps and seized her other hand. 

“ Aunt Christine !” I cried, deeply moved. 

She slowly took her hand from her eyes and regarded 
me with a melancholy smile. “ My little angel, my con- 
solation, you, at least, do not believe me guilty!” she said, 
gently stroking my cheek. “ These wicked, wicked 
tongues have pursued me all through my life with their 
evil slanders ! What have I not been compelled to en- 
dure ! And in what a miserable plight I am now when 
your stern father thrusts me forth ! Child, I have not a 
roof to shelter me, — not a pillow whereon to lay my 
head at night. I have spent my last groschen in coming 
to K . I wanted to see you, — you, mylitlle Lenore. 

28 * 


330 


TI1E LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


Good heavens ! oh, for a shelter for a few days, and then 
I can do something to help myself 1” 

What a situation for me ! I would have given up my 
own bed and slept upon straw, such was the fascination 
exercised over me by this woman, but I could not keep 
her in the house contrary to my father’s will. I thought 
of Fraulein Fliedner, — she was so good and kind; she 
would, perhaps, advise me. Ah, where were all my wise 
resolutions never to proceed to action without due con 
sideration ? 

Without a word I led my aunt down the stairs, and 
along the gravel-path ; she followed me with the docility 
of a child. We were just about to turn into the grove 
when we met the brother and sister, — Charlotte in a 
white satin hood and sealskin jacket. They were evi- 
dently setting out for a walk. 

I had not yet seen the “ Herr Lieutenant,” for I had 
carefully avoided him upon his frequent visits to the Karo- 
linenlust. I now dreaded him from the depths of my 
soul, and recoiled from him. He, too, seemed surprised ; 
his brown eyes, that had been odious to me ever since 
the scene in the sealed apartments, flashed strangely 
as they looked at me. I pretended not to see the 
hand that he smilingly held out, and presented my aunt 
to Charlotte. I was bewildered to perceive sudden 
and violent emotion in the countenance of the unhappy 
woman. She tried to speak, but no sound escaped her 
iips. 

Charlotte bowed slightly and haughtily, as she scanned 
my aunt’s person. 

“I hardly think Fraulein Fliedner will be able to 
advise you,” she said to me, coldly, when I had told her 
of my intention in as few words as possible; “and still 
less to assist you, — we have not math room in the other 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 331 

house. In my opinion it would be better to go to your 
friends the Helldorfs ; they surely must have some little 
room where they could accommodate your aunt.” 

I turned away irritated, and my aunt hastily dropped 
her veil over her face. 

J ust then the gardener Schafer passed us with a bow. 
The Swiss cottage belonged to him, and I knew that he 
had frequently let the dressing-room, as it was called, of 
his deceased wife to strangers. I ran after him and 
asked him about it ; he was ready to conduct my aunt 
thither on the instant, and assured us that everything 
was “in perfect order.” 

Without another glance towards the brother and sister, 
she walked on beside the old man, who talked to her in 
his gentle, good-humoured way, and led her to the gate, 
of which I had the key. She seemed as if. goaded on 
by some strange agitation. Schafer could hardly keep 
pace with her, and in spite of all my exertion I was left 
some distance behind them. 

“ For Heaven’s sake, get rid as soon as you can of 
this aunt of yours 1” Charlotte whispered to me. “ She 
will never be a credit to you. The paint on her face is 
an inch thick, and that imitation ermine ! For shame ! 
Child, you have queer relatives, — a grandmother born a 
Jewess, and now this varnished-up actress of an aunt ! 
Apropos, do not be late this evening. Uncle Erich 
quite unexpectedly has not spared expense ; the con- 
servatory will be brilliantly illuminated 1 I hope he may 
enjoy it.” 

She laughed, and took Dagobert’s arm. He was gazing 
keenly after my aunt. 

“ I do not know — I — must have met that woman some- 
where,” he said, passing his hand across his brow 
u Heaven knows where ; but ” 


332 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ It is very easy to tell. You Lave seen her upon the 
Btage,” said Charlotte, hurling him on with her. 

I looked after them, thoroughly vexed. My poor aunt ! 
She was, indeed, an unfortunate woman, persecuted by 
the world ! Her beauty, the only thing left to her, was 
called paint. 

I found the little room, to which Schafer conducted us, 
neat and comfortable. In a few minutes the old man 
had kindled a fire in the stove, and filled the window-seats 
with rose-bushes and boxes of mignonette. 

“ Small, and low,” said my aunt, raising her arm as if 
to touch the snowy ceiling. “It is not what I am used 
to, but I can bear it. We can do anything that we choose 
if our will is firm, — eh, my love ?” 

She threw off her cloak and bonnet, and stood before 
me clad in purple velvet. The gorgeous dress was, it 
is true, somewhat worn and faded along the seams and 
at the elbows ; but the form that it clothed was tall and 
slender, — the slight train lent a royal dignity to the 
figure, and the square cut of the boddice revealed a daz- 
zlingly-white neck. And what hair ! Short, raven curls 
were brought low upon the brow, and others, long and 
heavy, fell down upon each side of the massive braids 
that covered the back of the graceful head. I could not 
understand how it could carry itself so lightly beneath 
all that weight of splendour. 

My undisguised admiration was plainly to be seen, of 
course, in my face. 

“ Well, little Lenore, does your aunt please you ?” she 
asked, with an arch smile. 

“ Oh, how beautiful you are !” I cried, enthusiastically. 
“And so young, so young ; and yet you are three years 
older than my father 1” 

“ Silly child, there is no need to proclaim that aloud,” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


333 


Bhe said, with a forced laugh, laying her white hand upon 
my lips. 

Her eyes wandered inquiringly about the room and 
fixed themselves upon the little looking-glass by the 
window. 

“ Oh, that will never do, — never, never !” she said, in a 
startled tone. “ You can hardly see the tip of your nose 
in that splinter of glass. How can I dress myself ? I 
am no farmer’s wife, child, — I am accustomed to live 
after a princely fashion. I am willing to put up with 
some things, but I cannot bear this. You will certainly 
get me another decent-sized glass, that will be a little 
more like what I am accustomed to ? There in the villa, 
where you are staying, there must be many a superfluous 
pier-glass. My child, — in confidence, — every attention 
that you pay me in this hour of temporary distress will 
be repaid to you at a future time from another quarter. 
Have everything that I need brought over here for me. 
I will take all responsibility upon myself.” 

“ But how can I, aunt ?” I rejoined, greatly puzzled. 
“The furniture in our rooms belongs to Herr Claudius.” 

She smiled. 

“I would not like to move a chair even from where it 
is,” I continued, in eager remonstrance. “ I can send you 
nothing from the Karolinenlust, but perhaps Frau Hell- 
dorf can give you what you want ; we will go up-stairs 
and see.” 

It depressed me greatly to find that Frau Helldorf re- 
ceived my beautiful, richly-dressed protegee with evident 
coolness. It did no good for my aunt to say a thousand 
flattering things in her melodious voice, or to call the two 
children playing in the room golden-haired angels. The 
refined face of my friend lost nothing of its cool, suspi- 
cious reserve, and when finally I hesitatingly preferred 


334 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


the request for a looking-glass, she became rigid as a 
statue, took a tolerably large mirror, her only one, from 
the wall, and handed it to the beautiful woman, saying, 
with undisguised contempt, “I can do without it.” 

“ Be upon your guard, Lenore, let me entreat you ! I 
will be upon the watch too,” she whispered to me in the 
passage, as the purple velvet dress vanished in the room 
below-stairs. 

I meekly laid my little purse upon the table in that 
room, for which action I received a kiss and the assurance 
that I should in a short time be repaid with interest for 
all my “ little sacrifices.” And then my aunt busied her- 
self with placing the looking-glass in the most favourable 
light, and I returned to the Karolinenlust with a doubly 
heavy heart. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

Twilight had set in when I again entered the library. 
My father was wandering to and fro in the cabinet of 
antiques among the quiet marble figures, and never 
alluded to his outcast sister, — perhaps he thought her 
gone forever, and wished me to forget the afternoon scene 
as quickly as possible. I drew my shawl close about 
me with a shiver ; it was bitterly cold in the spacious 
apartment, where there was no fire, and the first flakes 
of a flurry of snow were falling upon the glass dome. 

“ You will take cold here, father,” I said, seizing his 
hand, — it was burning hot ; and oh, how his eyes flamed 
in their hollow sockets ! 

“ Take cold ? It is delightful here. I feel as if a cool 
bandage were wrapped around my forehead ” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


835 


" But it is late,” 1 rejoined, hesitatingly, “ and you must 
arrange your dress somewhat. Have you forgotten that 
the Princess is coming this evening to see the large con- 
servatory lighted up with gas ?” 

“ Oh, good heavens ! what should I do in the conser- 
vatory ?” he cried, impatiently. “Would you drive me 
insane with all those lights and the heavy perfume that 
always affects my head ? What do I care for the Prin- 
cess or the Duke ? Nothing, nothing!” 

With a sudden sweep of his arm he accidentally 
threw down a charming little statue from its pedestal. 
It was strange that he who usually handled every antique 
with so gentle and caressing a touch, scarcely noticed the 
mischief he had done, but let the injured god lie unheeded 
on the ground. 

Much terrified, I tried to soothe him. “Just as you 
please, father,” I said ; “ I will instantly send to the other 
house, and excuse us both from going to the conservatory 
to-night ” 

“ No, no, you must go at all events, Lorchen !” he inter- 
rupted me more gently. “ I wish you to do so for the 
sake of the Princess, who is fond of you, and I prefer to 
be alone this evening.” 

He went into his library again, and sat down at his 
writing-table. I closed the doors, made up the fire afresh 
in the stove, and arranged the tea-table; then, with a 
troubled heart, I went to my room and made my toilet, 
which I completed by taking my grandmother’s string of 
pearls from their box, and wreathing them among my 
curls. The effect of the cool, bluish-white drops gleam- 
ing from the dark hair was far more striking than when 
I had worn them upon my neck, and I intended that it 
snould be so, for who could tell when the Princess might 
visit the Claudius house again ? 


336 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


It had grown late when I finally crossed the bridge 
and came in sight of the conservatory. For a moment 1 
paused, dazzled. A few flakes of snow from the clouds 
that were parting and clearing away overhead, loitered 
down upon me, the frozen snow crackled beneath my 
tread, and on all sides the trees and bushes stretched 
towards me white, ghostly arms laden with snow, — but 
before me tall, feathery palms waved in majestic grace 
above a wilderness of ferns and cacti and bits of velvet 
lawn, through which the silvery cascade trickled in 
shining streams. Bathed in the light of concealed gas- 
jets, the green melted into a thousand tints, from the 
phosphorescent hue of early spring to the deepest hem- 
lock shade ; the conservatory lay in the midst of the 
dimly gleaming field of snow like a cluster of emeralds 
upon white velvet. 

“Ah, good-evening, little one!” cried the Princess as 
I approached her. She was sitting among a group of 
ferns just where I had sat on the evening when I told 
about my grandmother. Herr Claudius stood beside her 
talking with her, whilst those belonging to her party, 
and the brother and sister were grouped on either side. 
“Little moorland Princess, you come upon us like a 
vision !” she said with a smile. “ Have you just been 
born from the waterfall here ? My child, you really do 
not know what a priceless possession you have in those 
pearls that are wreathed so carelessly in your wealth of 
curls !” 

“ Yes, your Highness, I do know that the pearls are 
all now left of great riches,” I replied, endeavouring to 
make my voice full and clear. “ My poor grandmother 
said when she had them put about my neck that they 
had witnessed much happiness, but that they had also 
fled from the fagot and the block with which Christian 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


337 


intolerance bad threatened the Jews, — for my dear grand- 
mother was a Jewess by birth; she was a Jacobsohn 
from Hanover.” 

I emphasized the last words sharply, and looked up at 
Herr Claudius. What did I care that Herr von Wismar 
cleared his throat in great embarrassment, while Fraulein 
von Wildenspring gave a little nod of triumph, as much 
as to say, “Was I not right when my aristocratic intui- 
tion suspected the bourgeois element in this creature ?” 
What difference did it make to me that the handsome 
Tancred angrily twisted his moustache, and, with a con- 
temptuous shrug, whispered a few words to Charlotte ? 
I saw the pleased surprise in Herr Claudius’s face, he 
looked as if he would have snatched me from among 
those sneering lookers-on and clasped me to his strong, 
proud heart, — for I had conquered my false shame and 
braved those contemptuous glances, that I might regain 
his esteem. 

“ Aha, a most piquant discovery 1” the Princess said, 
merrily, with no accent of disagreeable surprise. “Now 
I know where my little favourite got her Oriental face. 
Yes, yes, it must have been just such a black-haired girl, 
with feet of quicksilver, who beguiled Herod to give her 
the head of John the Baptist ! When you come to me 
next, my child, I must hear all about that dear grand- 
mother of yours, remember.” She arranged one or two 
of the pearls in my hair, through which she gently passed 
her hand. “I love her very much, this little Rebekah, 
with her childlike heart and artless, prattling mouth,” 
she added tenderly, and kissed me. 

Ah, this time my prattling had not been artless, as he 
whose eyes were still fixed upon me well knew ! 

The Princess drew me down upon a cushion at her 
feet, and I sat there silently listening to the conversation, 
W 29 


338 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


until Friiulein Fliedner announced that tea was ready m 
the other house, for the august lady had begged for a cup 
of tea in the “ interesting old house,” — her constitution 
would not allow of her remaining long in the damp, 
misty atmosphere of the green-house. She wrapped her- 
self in her fur cloak, took Herr Claudius’s arm, and walked 
on before the muffled company, who followed, talking 
gayly, through the snow-clad garden. There was no need 
of the lanterns of the attendant servants ; the clouds 
had vanished from the sky, and through the naked 
branches of the poplar grove grotesque streaks of silver 
light fell upon the snowy plain. The moon had risen. 

I ran back across the bridge and looked up at the win- 
dows of the library. The curtains were not drawn, the 
light of the lamp upon my father’s writing-table shone 
peacefully, and I could even see a blue, dancing glow 
from the corner of the room where the tea-table stood, — 
it came from the spirit-lamp beneath the tea-kettle. It 
looked cosy and comfortable. To satisfy myself still 
further I slipped into the house, ran up-stairs, and lis- 
tened at the door. All was still within : my father was 
writing, of course. No longer anxious, I went to the 
other house. 

The ancient household gods of the firm of Claudius 
must have crept timidly and angrily into their darkest 
retreats. Certainly none of the wealthy old merchants 
had ever allowed such an illumination, even at the chris- 
tening of some future head of the house ! 

“ What does it all mean, Fraulein Fliedner ? The 
master cannot get light enough to-night,” grumbled old 
Erdmann, who was carrying a stepladder to an upper 
corridor as I came up the staircase. “ I am to hang the 
big lamps from the work-room up here 1” 

“ It is all right, Erdmann,” replied the old lady, as she 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


339 


came out of the first reception-room. A perfect flood of 
light came gushing through the open door. “ I am glad 
to have it really bright in the old Claudius house.” 
Smiling kindly and meaningly, she passed her hand over 
my hair and hurried down into the hall. 

Her smile sent the blood into my cheeks. I timidly 
took my hand from the handle of the door. I could not 
brave the light of the numberless candles in the huge 
chandelier. I went into Charlotte’s room. It was empty; 
two lamps were burning upon the open piano, and from 
the apartment where the handsdme Lothar’s portrait 
hung came the rattle of teacups and lively conversation. 
I stood still, reflecting how I could most quietly effect 
my entrance there, when Charlotte came sweeping in 
accompanied by her brother. 

“ The Princess has asked me to sing,” she said to me, 
turning over her notes. “ How did you come here, and 
where have you been hiding, little one? You have been 
missed in there.” 

“I was anxious about my father, and went to look 
after him ; he is not well ” 

“ Not well ?” And Dagobert gave a low laugh, — he was 
already preluding at the piano. 

“ Yes, yes, his illness is severe — very serious ! I heard 
the interesting news at the club ; it was all the talk there, 
and it has gone through the city like wildfire that the 
archaeology craze is at its last gasp. We shall have 
another fashion before long, Charlotte. Thank God, there 
will be no more need of that jaw-breaking Greek, Roman, 
and Egyptian gibberish ! What a bore it has been !” He 
ran his hands over the keys in a series of brilliant runs, 
while my heart nearly ceased beating with amazement. 
“And just when your father has lost his stirrup, and 
almost his seat in the saddle, you publish to the world, 


340 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


with exquisite naivete, that he is a direct descendant of 
the Jews. I think it has done for him !” 

“ Yes, that was rather silly, if you will allow me to say 
so,” said Charlotte, putting a sheet of music upon the 
desk of the instrument. “ I would not have you tell a 
falsehood: I never do that myself; but in an emergency 
a middle course is best ; be silent.” 

Dagobert began the accompaniment, and Charlotte's 
powerful voice re-echoed from the walls. 

What had happened ? All that the handsome Tan- 
cred said had sounded so odd and incomprehensible, with 
its accompaniment of trills and roulades upon the piano. 
I looked at him with intense indignation. “Archaeology 
craze” was the designation he had bestowed upon my 
father's labours, — he, who had been a servile “famulus” 
to the famous philosopher, disturbing him continually. 
How often I had heard my father complain of the frivol- 
ous, persistent intruder ! Thus much I understood, — my 
father’s position at court was not as secure as formerly, 
and the cowardly rabble that had fawned upon him, 
were beginning to bark at him. 

The Princess had never been so kind and affectionate 
to me as upon this evening, and yet I could not bring my- 
self to approach her again immediately. I slipped into the 
adjoining room, and seated myself in a dark corner, while 
Charlotte’s piercing voice sang on. I could see the tea- 
table very well from where I was. The Princess sat a 
little at the side, beneath Lothar’s portrait, certainly not 
by her own desire, for I could see her privately endeav- 
ouring to get a full view of the picture. Her neighbour 
upon her left was Herr Claudius. One glance at his 
noble, composed countenance soothed my troubled, bur- 
dened heart What a light there was to-night upon his 
brow ! The fine, soldierly head, with the soul in its eyes, 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


341 


that hung above him, was perhaps handsomer in out- 
line, more captivating in its ardent expression ; but all his 
fiery courage had not sufficed to sustain him in the battle 
of life, — the suicide had succumbed miserably in the 
storm, whilst he of the deep, calm eyes had snatched at 
the helm when it was nearly torn from his grasp, and by 
force of will righted the vessel again. 

“ You have a fine voice, Fraulein Claudius,” said the 
Princess, when, her song finished, Charlotte again ap- 
proached the tea-table ; “ your middle notes remind me fo;- 
cibly of my sister Sidonie, and your brilliant bravura style 
brings back to my memory long-forgotten days, — my sister 
preferred wild, original music to soothing, melancholy 
songs.” 

“If your Highness will permit me, I should like to 
sing you a wild, original air,” Charlotte replied, hastily. 
“ I love the Tarantella, — it intoxicates me. Gik la 
luna ” 

“ I must beg you, Charlotte, not to sing the Taran- 
tella,” Herr Claudius gravely interrupted her. His voice 
was firm, but he looked pale, and frowned warningly. 

“You are right, Herr Claudius,” replied the Princess, 
eagerly ; “ I share your antipathy. There was an actual 
rage for the Tarantella in my day, — it was the show-piece 
of all brilliant singers, and, to my annoyance, Sidonie, too, 
delighted in it. It is too wildly bacchantic for me !” 

She put aside her cup and arose. “ I think we will 
now take a small voyage of discovery,” she said, smiling. 
“ I must explore these rooms thoroughly. I seem to be 
reading some ancient book whenever I raise my eyes. 
Herr von Wismar, do you see that magnificent pair of 
antlers?” She pointed towards the farthest room of the 
long suite. “ There is a sight for your huntsman’s soul 1” 

The chamberlain tripped away to examine them, fol- 
29 * 


342 


TUE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


lowed by the rest of the court party. Her Highness 
wished to be alone. Just then Charlotte turned her head 
so that I could look her full in the face: As soon as I 
marked the eagerness in her eyes — the flickering disquiet 
and yet intensity of her expression — 1 felt sure that the 
young girl had determined to attain her goal this very 
evening. How, to be sure, she dutifully followed her 
brother and the others to the inspection of the antlers so 
imperiously designated by the royal finger, while the 
Princess remained alone in the small room adjoining the 
large drawing-room, examining with great apparent in- 
terest the story of Genoveva depicted upon the antique, 
vari-coloured woollen tapestry. 

“ Do you know where Fraulein von Sassen is ?” Herr 
Claudius asked of Fraulein Fliedner, who was just en- 
tering the room where I was. 

“ Here I am, Herr Claudius, ” I said, rising. 

“ Ah, my little heroine 1” he cried, coming quickly to- 
wards me without heeding whether others should note 
the unwonted fire in his look and voice. Fraulein Flied- 
ner instantly withdrew to the tea-table. 

“ And you have buried yourself in the very darkest 
corner to-night, when I wanted to surround the little 
moorland Princess with all the light that the old house 
could afford ?” he said, in an undertone. “ Do you know 
that on this delightful evening I am celebrating a kind of 
new birth ? I was still very young #hen I condemned 
myself to wear the fetters of age. Rudely and inexora- 
bly I suppressed the fountains of youth in my heart: I 
would not be young; and now, when I am in truth no 
longer so, the fountains burst forth and demand their rights, 
their ancient, disused rights ! And I resign myself with- 
out a struggle. I am unspeakably happy to feel young 
once more, as if the precious jewel of youth had been 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


343 


uninjured by years or bitter experience. Is not this folly 
in the man, ‘old, old as the hills,’ whom you saw first 
on the moor ?” 

My head drooped upon my breast. Anxiety on my 
father’s account, terror as to what Charlotte intended to 
do, the people in the other rooms, all faded into forget- 
fulness at the sound of those half- whispered words 
breathed into my ear. And could those keen eyes doubt 
what was passing within me ? 

“Lenore,” he said, bending over me, “let us imagine 
ourselves all alone in the old merchant’s house, with 
nothing to do with all those people,” and he motioned 
towards the other rooms. “I know for whose sake your 
brave confession was made this evening. I claim the 
delight of that moment for my own, and only mine, against 
the world, — yes, even against yourself, if you should seek 
to withhold it from me. Our souls are united, although 
you should still be cruel enough in reality to refuse me 
the hand that once scattered my money so defiantly at 
my feet.” 

An instant afterwards he was seated at the piano, and 
such a flood of harmony rolled forth upon the air as fairly 
bewildered me. Those wondrous tones were for me, 
insignificant as I was ; they had “ nothing to do with all 
those people” whose talk and laughter were audible in the 
farthest room. Yes, the fountains of youth, released at 
last, leaped high in the sunlight in the heart of the man, 
once so basely betrayed, who had thought to expiate the 
brief madness of passion by a life of renunciation. And 
the hands that “ never since had touched the keys” now 
struck into the theme of that song that revealed the mys- 
terious bond between his strong, ripe nature and my own, 
weak and unformed as it was. 


344 THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 

“ Oh, wert thou in the cauld blast 
On yonder lea, 

My plaidie to the angry airt, 

I’d shelter thee 1” 

“ Good heavens! is not that Herr Claudius playing 
asked Fraulein Fliedner, coming hurriedly out of the 
next room, and clasping her hands with delight at sight 
of the figure sitting at the piano. 

I passed by her : I could not let her see my face. I 
took refuge in one of the deep windowed recesses of the 
large room where the tea-table stood, behind the heavy 
silken curtains, which I drew closely, except for a narrow 
break, — there my cheeks might glow and my eyes look as 
happy as they pleased. None troubled themselves about 
me, not even Fraulein Fliedner, who had retreated to a 
corner, where she stood with clasped hands and bent head 
listening to the music. 

For a moment the room was entirely empty. Every 
note, even the faintest, reached my ear from the piano, and 
now and then a light laugh or a word spoken rather loudly 
could be heard from the apartment where the antlers 
were hanging. 

Suddenly the Princess entered with a noiseless foot- 
fall. I saw that she was relieved at finding herself at 
last alone in this room. She took the shade from the 
globe of the lamp upon the tea-table, that its light might 
fall full upon Lothar’s picture. Once more she cast a 
searching glance around her, and then, stepping in front 
of the picture, took a little book from her pocket, and 
began with a pencil to draw a hasty sketch. She was 
evidently trying to catch, now when she was unobserved, 
the outline of the handsome head, perhaps even a hint 
of the “ soul ” in the eyes. 

I shrank back in my hiding-place at this sudden glimpse 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 345 

into the heart of the august lady, and thought to myself 
that she would certainly have given a year of life to call 
the portrait her own. No one could so deeply sym 
pathize with her at this moment as myself, to whom 
another soul was discoursing such eloquent music 1 I 
wanted to rush up to her and take both book and pencn 
from her hand and hide them, for she did not hear the 
footsteps approaching through the long suite of rooms, — 
she never looked up when Charlotte noiselessly drew near 
and started in amazement upon recognizing Herr Claudius 
in the performer upon the piano. Before I was aware of 
her intentions, she advanced directly towards the Prin- 
cess, closing the door, so that the music sounded fainter 
in the distance. 

The rustle of her dress at last attracted the Princess’s 
attention. She looked up, and her cheeks flushed crimson 
with surprise. Quick as thought, however, she recov- 
ered herself, closed her book, and regarded the intruder 
over her shoulder with a glance of haughty inquiry. 

“ I know, your Highness, that my intrusion must seem 
inexcusable,” said Charlotte. And I could hear in the 
tremor of her voice how the strong, self-reliant girl was 
shaken to the very core of her nature. “ I must seize 
what seems to me a favourable moment in which to speak, 
even without your Highness’s gracious permission. I do 
not know what else to do. Even if your Highness should 
grant me an audience at any hour in the castle, I do not 
think I could find courage to utter what I can venture to 
say here beneath the protection of those eyes.” And sLa 
pointed to the picture of Lothar. 

The Princess turned fully towards her, amazement in 
every feature. “And what have you to say to me ?” 

Charlotte sank upon her knees, seized the lady’s hand, 
and pressed it to her lips. “ Help my brother and my- 


;46 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


self to recover our rights!” she implored, in half-stifled 
accents. “ We have been robbed of our true name, and 
forced to eat the bread of charity, when we are entitled 
to wealth, and should long since have been independent. 
In our veins flows noble blood, and yet we are actually 
fettered to this trading-house and forced into bourgeois 
associations ” 

“ Stand up and compose yourself, Fraulein Charlotte,” 
the Princess interrupted her. There was small encour- 
agement in her grave, dignified demeanour. “And first 
of all tell me who has thus deceived you.” 

“ The name can hardly pass my lips, for its utterance 
seems like black ingratitude. The world thinks us the 
adopted children of a most generous man ” 

“And I, too ” 

“And yet he it is who has robbed us!” Charlotte 
interposed, in desperation. 

“ Stay, — such a man as Herr Claudius neither robs 
nor deceives ! I can much more easily believe you the 
victim of some error!” 

I could have embraced her Highness’s knees for saying 
that. 

Charlotte raised her head. She was evidently sum- 
moning up all her courage. She hastily closed the other 
door, through which a loud, half-mocking conversation 
between Dagobert and the maid of honour was audible. 
“ The matter at stake is not a question of money, — that 
is only a side-issue, your Highness,” she said, firmly. 
“ Herr Claudius loves wealth ; but I myself am convinced 
that he would strictly avoid any unlawful gain. On the 
other hand, your Highness will admit that many an 
originally fine character, when led on in the pursuit of 
some idea, carried away by some obstinately-cherished 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 347 

illusion, has come not only to deceive himself but in the 
end to be guilty of wronging others.” 

She pressed her hands to her breast and took breath, 
while from the other room came pouring forth such in- 
toxicating melody! For the first time for years Herr 
Claudius was breathing forth his pent-up soul in music, 
while here his fair name was being assailed. And I could 
not even warn him, — I must stay here stretched upon the 
rack ! How I hated his accuser in this moment of inde- 
scribable torture ! 

“ Herr Claudius despises the aristocracy ; yes, he hates 
it !” she continued. “ He naturally possesses too little 
influence to affect the existing order of society ; but 
wherever it is in his power to diminish the importance 
of the aristocratic class, he does so with all his might, — 
he does not even shun deceit to gain his end. Your 
Highness, to my brother belongs a position as head of a 
newly-ennobled family which, I say it with pride, would 
have lent a firm support to the envied caste, for both my 
brother and myself are thoroughly aristocratic by nature. 
But for that very reason we are never to learn to whom 
we owe our existence. Herr Claudius will not tolerate a 
crest above the old bourgeois name.” 

The Princess’s face suddenly became white as snow. 
She hastily raised her hand and pointed to Lothar’s pic- 
ture. “And why do you tell me all this beneath the 
protection of those eyes ?” she slowly asked, in a hoarse, 
changed voice. 

“ Because they are the eyes of my dear father. Your 
Highness, I am his daughter !” 

The Princess staggered backward, and leaned for sup- 
port against the corner of the table. 

“Falsehoods! detestable falsehoods ! Never say that 
again J” she almost shrieked. How her lovely face changed, 


348 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


and how hard and angular was the arm she raised in mex 
nace! “ I will not suffer a stain to rest upon his name 1 
Claudius was never married, — never ! the whole world 
knows that 1 He never even loved, — never loved 1 Oh, 
God, do not rob me of this one consolation I” 

“Your Highness ” 

“ Silence 1 Do you actually maintain that that proua, 

reserved man could ever have condescended And 

if, — but, God of heaven, it is not true ! — but if it were, 
would you insist upon rights that you owe to a temporary 
infatuation, but not to love V ’ 

What biting scorn those trembling lips threw into these 
words 1 Charlotte had been lost in speechless amaze- 
ment, but the insult roused her like a blow, and restored 
her self-command. 

“ He never loved ?” she asked. “ Does not your High- 
ness know why he sought death V ’ 

“ From sudden melancholy ; he was ill ; ask all who 
knew him,” she murmured, covering her eyes w : th her 
hand. 

“ He was ill ; he was frantic with despair at the 
death ” 

“Of whom? of whom?” 

Again Charlotte sank upon the ground, and, bursting 
into tears, clasped the knees of the Princess. 

“ I conjure your Highness to listen to me for one mo- 
ment with more composure,” she implored. “I have 
gone too far to retreat. I must tell the truth, even for 
my brother’s sake, for I cannot endure that you should 
believe us illegitimate children. Lothar von Claudius 
was married ; he lived in wedlock — secret, it is true, but 
sanctioned by the church’s blessing — in the Karolinenlust, 
and there we were born.” 

“And who was the fortunate woman whom he loved so 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


349 


fondly as to die for her sake ?” asked the Princess, with 
terrible composure ; she stood like a statue of marble, and 
the words were hissed out between her set teeth. 

“ I have not the courage to name her,” Charlotte stam- 
mered, as if exhausted. “ Your Highness has received 
my communication so ungraciously I dare not continue. 
That man,” and she pointed over her shoulder to the 
room where was the piano, “must not yet learn that 
we know the secret, — and we are rudderless, now that 
your Highness turns from us persecuted and forsaken 
orphans. I have already trembled at every loud word, 
lest it should be overheard. I know you cannot hear the 
name you ask for, with composure ” 

“ How can you know that, Fraulein Claudius ?” the 
Princess interrupted her, standing erect. Charlotte’s last 
words had roused all her princely pride. “ You err 
greatly if you attribute my momentary confusion to any- 
thing save boundless amazement. What can it matter to 
me who the woman was ? I would relieve you from the 
task of telling me her name but that I must prove that I 
can hear it with entire composure, and therefore I com- 
mand you to finish your communication with the name I 
ask for.” 

“I obey your Highness. His wife was the Princess 
Sidonie von K .” 

She had dared too much. The haughty Princess ! She 
had believed that she could retain the scornful smile upon 
her lips and conjure the blood into her white cheeks, what- 
ever the name might be ; it fell upon her ears like a thun- 
der-clap ; she sank back against the wall, and gasped as 
though her heart had been pierced with a dagger. 

“ This is the cruellest deception that ever heart of 
woman was forced to undergo !” She breathed rather 
than spoke the words. “ Fie, fie, how false and black l” 

30 


350 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


Charlotte would have supported her. 

“ Go ! What would you do ?” she said, thrusting away 
the young girl’s hands. “ Some demon must have in- 
spired you with the fiendish idea of making me your con- 
fidante ! Leave me 1 I give you back your secret ! I 
will have none of it ! I never can or will aid you to 
recover what you call your rights. ” 

She tried to stand erect again, but was obliged to seek 
the support of the table. “ Have the kindness to call my 
people, — I am very ill P’ she said, in a failing voice. 

“ Forgive me, your Highness,” cried Charlotte, almost 
beside herself. 

The Princess, without a word, pointed haughtily to- 
wards the door as she sank into the nearest arm-chair. 
Charlotte flew out of the room whither every one instantly 
flocked in the greatest consternation. The music instantly 
ceased. Herr Claudius approached. 

“ I Lave had a sudden attack of an old complaint,” the 
Princess said to him, with a smile. “ Will you lend me 
your carriage ? I cannot possibly wait for mine.” 

He hurried away, and in a few minutes conducted the 
noble sufferer down the staircase. She leaned heavily 
upon his arm, and the manner in which she took leave of 
him proved that Charlotte’s revelations had produced not 
the slightest diminution of her respect and esteem for him 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


351 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

I took advantage of the universal consternation and 
confusion to wrap myself in my cloak and hood and leave 
the house. My knees trembled, and the blood was 
coursing feverishly in my veins ; it had been a terrible 
scene 1 The thoughtlessness with which I had thrust 
myself into the midst of the secrets of the Claudius 
family had been cruelly avenged. Link by link of the 
mysterious chain was slowly passed before my eyes, and 
a malicious hand seemed to thrust me forward to suffer 
and sympathize with every new phase of the develop- 
ment of this strange story. I had been obliged to listen 
silently whilst he for whom I would have gladly shed my 
heart’s blood was accused of infamous deceit. Every 
word had been a dagger-thrust to me, and had filled me 
with a thirst for revenge upon his passionate denouncer, 
and yet I had been forced to remain with streaming eyes 
and clasped hands in my hiding-place. In addition, I 
was burdened with a weight of repentant shame. Had 
I not formerly at court tried with all my might, as Char- 
lotte was then doing, to heap opprobrium upon Herr Clau- 
dius ? Had I not then with cruel courage declared that 
I could not endure him ? If 1 were to sqrve him as his 
handmaiden all my life long, I could never atone for 
the injury I had done him in my silly blindness! This 
it was that drove me from his bouse out into the quiet 
garden. Oh, if I could only wander on along the smooth, 
snow-covered roads I on and on, far into the moor where 
Use and Heinz were now sitting peacefully beside the 
great stove ! If I could only sit down upon the footstool 


352 THE little moorland princess. 

beside my shaggy Spitz and feel Use’s dear, hard hand 
stroke my hair, perhaps I might be at peace once more 
At peace ! For the first time I learned how to prize my 
former inward and outward quiet, now that my wayward 
nature drove me hither and thither, first transporting me 
to a heaven of delight, and then plunging me into depths 
of remorse and self-accusation. 

A dazzling white light lay broad upon the spacious 
gardens. The disk of the moon was clearly cut against 
the cold, glassy sky. I crossed the bridge. Below me 
wound the glittering, frozen stream between the leafless 
bushes lining its banks, and a silvery shimmer seemed to 
drift down from the branches of the trees in the grove. 
The marble Titans in the pond no longer stood upon blue 
velvet, — they were set in the midst of a diamond of ice ; 
turbans of snow crowned their bearded faces, and the 
airy garment of the frozen Diana was edged with a 
wintry fabric of frost. And Frau Holle had shaken abroad 
her feathers to imitate every architectural decoration of 
the little rococo castle, and laid down a spotless white 
piilow upon the balcony outside of the glass doors. How 
innocent and childlike had been my first interpretation of 
the mystery of the sealed apartments ! — fairy folk had 
peopled them for me. And now they were the casket for 
a handful of papers which two human beings, possessed 
of boundless ambition, believed could open for them the 
golden doors admitting them to an enchanted world with 
its treasures. 

I looked up at the windows of the library. The lamp 
was still burning upon the writing-table, but across the 
ceiling a shadow passed rapidly to and fro : it was my 
father, — he seemed more restless and agitated than ever. 
Much distressed, I hurried up-stairs ; the library door was 
locked. Amidst the sound of the pacing footsteps inside 


1\IE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


353 


I could Lear my father muttering to himself, and now 
and then striking his clinched fist upon the table. 

I knocked and begged him to open the door. 

“ Let me alone I” he cried, roughly and angrily, from 
within, without approaching the door. “ Counterfeit, do 
you say ?” He laughed shrilly. “ Come here and prove 
it ! but take away your cane. Why do you strike me on 
the head with it ? Oh, oh, my head !” 

“ Father, father!” I cried, imploringly, and repeated my 
prayer for admission. 

“ Go away ; do not trouble me !” he said, impatiently, 
from a distant part of the room. 

I obeyed, rather than vex him still further, and I re- 
tired from the door for awhile. I lighted a lamp and went 
into his room to see that all was arranged for the night. 
There in a pile lay the newspapers that he had received 
during the day, apparently still unopened, — one only 
was crushed into a ball upon the floor. I smoothed it 
out, and found a long red line drawn along the margin 
of a certain article. The name Sassen instantly caught 
my eye and filled me with a dread presentiment. I ran 
through the introduction, but I could not understand it; 
it was full of technical phrases. But here it was, — I 
passed my hand across my failing eyes, and read : 

“ This coin swindle has placed an axe at the root of 
all faith in authority. One of our first names is compro- 
mised forever. Doctor von Sassen with incredible want 
of perception has recommended the counterfeiter and his 
coins, not one of which is genuine, to all courts and uni- 
versities. Professor Hart, of Hanover, who first detected 
the imposture, declares, however, that the counterfeit is 
most masterly ” 

Professor Hart, of Hanover ! That was the long- 
worded professor at the Hun’s grave, — the man with the 
X 30* 


354 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


good face and the rattling tin box slung around his shoul- 
ders. I liked him because he defended my moor so warmly ; 
and now that gentle, kind old man was my father’s 
most violent opponent. The coins were those for the 
purchase of which I had demanded my money of Herr 
Claudius after so unmannerly a fashion, and, upon his 
well-founded refusal, had denounced him at court as a 
conceited ignoramus. I seemed to see him before me as 
he had stood at his cabinet, wise and modest, but firm in 
his opinion. And because he had disdained to parade his 
scientific attainments in the market-place, Dagobert had 
called him insolent, and I had echoed the hateful word. 
How complete was his justification ! These very coins 
were about to cause my father’s disgrace at court ; that 
was what Dagobert had hinted to-day in his sneering, 
senseless way. My poor father! This one error would 
hurl him from his lofty position beneath the feet of 
those who envied and disliked him. It was enough 
to bewilder the brain of a delicately- organized man 
who had spent his life in hard labour in the interests of 
science. 

How powerless I was in view of this trial ! I could 
easily understand that even the most fondly-loved voice 
must fail of giving consolation to a man at such a time. 
And what could I say to him ? But I must not leave 
him alone. I would not grate upon him with spoken 
words, but he must feel my watchful love around him. 

I hastily left his room to go up-stairs, and entreat for 
admission until the library door should be opened for 
me. All at once I paused and listened. There was a 
noise in my sleeping-room as if furniture were pushed 
aside. I opened the door ; a dazzling flood of moonlight- 
filled the place, for both windows were wide open, — in the 
agitation caused by my aunt’s arrival I had forgotten to 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


355 


close them. With a cry I started back ; a man was 
pushing the wardrobe to one side, and already the door 
behind it was fully revealed. He turned round ; I saw 
the gleam of Dagobert’s white forehead, and his eyes 
flashed as he saw me. With one stride he had closed 
the door behind me, and drawn me farther into the 
room. 

11 Be reasonable for once, and remember that the happi- 
ness of my life and yours depends upon this one moment ! w 
he whispered. “ Charlotte has made a terribly bad begin- 
ning: she has told our secret to the Princess, and it is 
all up with us. The worst that could happen to us is 
this insane love of her old Highness, who grudges my 
father even in his grave to any one elsel Now we have 
two enemies to contend with, who may have entered into 
a secret league, — the devil trust such an insane old maid 1 
Who can insure us against the removal of the seals on 
the doors some fine night? Of course no one would 
ever suspect Uncle Erich in such a case, — every one 
knows how strictly he guards the seals. They may 
have fallen off accidentally ; and if the papers have dis- 
appeared from the writing-table, who will be any the 
wiser? Don’t be a child. The key is in this door, — I 
only need to turn it ; there is no force needed to go 
quietly up-stairs and take what belongs to me of 
right.” 

I do not know myself how I managed just at that 
moment to slip behind him like a flash of lightning, seize 
the key from the little door, and put it in my pocket. 

“Viper!” he muttered between his teeth, “you wish 
to sell yourself at a high price ; you think yourself 
still more desirable in my eyes with that key in your 
pocket !” 

I did not then in the least understand the meaning of 


356 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


those hateful words, or I could not have condescended to 
look at or speak to the wretch again. 

“I wish to prevent you from committing a crime,” I 
said, firmly, leaning with my back against the door. “Be 
frank and open with Herr Claudius ; you will gain your 
end far more surely than if you break open the writing 
table in the room above us. I will go with you now ; 
we will tell him everything at once ” 

I stopped abruptly, for his eyes measured me with an 
insulting look, and a contemptuous smile played about 
his mouth. “You are wonderfully lovely, little Bare- 
foot; a few short months have made a perfect siren of 
the slender lizard with the Princess’s crown, — but what 
has become of the lizard’s wisdom?” He laughed aloud. 
“A charming programme, by Jove! We betake our- 
selves to the gracious presence of Uncle Erich, offer him 
our precious secret upon a salver, and withdraw, greatly 
edified!” He came so close to me that I retreated, ter- 
rified, pressing as near as possible against tho wall. 
“ And let me tell you this ; that I still control myself, and 
do not touch you, is owing entirely to my weakness, my 
secret adoration of you ! I do not want to irritate you ; 
I know what a spiteful little imp you are. I believe you 
might even be provoked to deny what I, fortunate man 
that I am, have long known perfectly!” 

What did he mean ? I must have appeared bewildered, 
for he laughed again. “ Come, don’t look as if I were the 
wolf and you Red Riding-Hood staring foolishly at the vil- 
lain with innocent, inquiring eyes !” he cried. “ Everything 
has gone wrong to-day. Your chattering tongue, that I 
thought I had trained sufficiently in our common interest, 
has thrown the taint of Jewish origin upon your descent; 
your father is in disgrace, or nearly so, at court, but my 
passion for you surmounts all obstacles, and I fancy my 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 35f 

mother’s title will cover much.” He almost touched my 
ear with his lips. “ I should like to see who, my charm- 
ing little Lenore, will dare ” 

At last I understood him. How bitterly I was pun- 
ished for the blind enthusiasm with which I had devoted 
myself to the brother and sister 1 Scarcely conscious of 
what I was doing, I turned away my face and raised my 
arm in menace. 

“Aha, there is the demon once more ! Don’t you long 
to strike me again ?” he sneered from between his set 

teeth. “ Take care ! I told you once before ” 

“ I know perfectly well that you could strangle me by 
a single effort. Do it !” I cried, undismayed. “ I will 
never willingly let you have the keyl You are a villain ! 
I am no longer the silly child who can be befooled by such 
a gaud as that.” And I pointed to his epaulette glitter- 
ing in the moonlight. “ I know that the honour lies in 
the wearer ! And this gallant officer who comes like a 

thief in the night to threaten a defenceless girl ” 

“Aha, the little reptile tries to sting!” he muttered, 
and threw his arm around me ; but ray agility stood me 
in stead, — I slipped from his grasp, and, with a leap, stood 
upon the window-seat. 

“In Heaven’s name, what is the matter?” cried old 
Schafer from without, — he was just crossing the bright, 
snowy plain on his way home. 

“ Come in quickly, — come, come !” I called, wavering 
between a burst of tears and joy at my delivery. 

With an oath Dagobert sprang through the other win* 
dow, whilst the old gardener ran along the front of the 
house and entered by the hall-door. 

“ What has happened ?” he asked, looking searchingly 
around the room. “ Good gracious, Fraulein von Sassen, 
you look like my canary-bird when the cat is in the room ! 


358 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


Were there strange noises here ? Don’t be afraid, it is 
only the mice. There are no ghosts here, whatever 
people may say about the Karolinenlust.” 

I let the good old man, whose gentle voice reassured 
me, believe that I had been startled by some strange 
noise, only begging him to bolt the window-shutters as 
firmly as possible. After which I closed all the doors 
and went up to the library. I was weary of the battle : 
the last atom of antagonism and defiance that I had 
brought out into the world with me was exhausted, — and 
I was still so young, so young! Was human life nothing 
else but a strife with the inexorable consequences of 
our own errors ? And was I, anxious and frightened 
as I was, forever to be tossed hither and thither, helpless 
and defenceless, in the night and storm ? I shivered with 
dread, — I should fail and be lost in all this misery if 
there were no strong hand stretched forth to me. 

" My plaidie to the angry airt, 

I’d shelter thee.” 

Oh, for some shelter ! Some refuge where I could 
rest, and breathe freely once more ! And I had prided 
myself upon the strength with which I had faced the 
moorland storms ! Now, wearied and helpless, I was 
groping for some support and aid ! 

The library was still locked when I reached the door, 
and to all my knocking and entreaties for admittance, I 
received no reply. At first I thought my father was not 
there, all was so quiet inside. But then I heard a dull 
fall, followed by a chuckling laugh, — it came from the 
antique cabinet, the door of which leading into the library 
was always open. It sounded as if some heavy body 
were overthrown, and the laugh was so strange that 
my blood seemed to curdle in my veins. Then somo 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


359 


object was hurled into the library, and was broken into a 
thousand fragments upon the floor there. The crash was 
accompanied by a loud burst of exultant laughter. I 
beat upon the door with my clinched fists, and in my 
despair continually repeated my father’s name. 

A door above on the next landing of the wide staircase 
opened, and Herr Claudius came out of his observatory. 
The moonlight flooded all the place. I hurried up to 
him, and struggling convulsively with my tears, told 
him of my misery. Amid a sudden silence in the 
library, I also told him in a whisper what I had read in 
the newspaper. 

“ I know it,” Herr Claudius interrupted me, quietly. 

“ Grief is robbing my father of reason, — oh, how 
wretched I am for him!” I cried. “In one night his 
brilliant reputation has vanished.” 

“ There you are wrong. It would be sad indeed if a 
single error could make of none effect a lifetime of inces- 
sant devotion to science and art. Herr von Sassen’s 
services in this direction can never be forgotten, and for 
this very reason malice seeks to sting him with the dis- 
covery of a moment’s mistake. It will all pass over. Be 
composed, Lenore; do not cry.” Involuntarily he raised 
his hand as if to take mine, but instantly dropping it 
again, he went to the library door and rattled at the 
latch. 

Just then there was a dull crash upon the floor inside. 

“Agasias had no part in youl” cried my father, — I 
scarcely recognized the shrill voice as his, — “Sassen lied ! 
Ask Hart in Hanover: he knows! Down with you! 
You, too, are counterfeit!” And we could hear him 
violently thrust from him the object on the floor. 

“Oh, that is the sleeping boy, his admiration, — he is 
writing volumes to prove that it is from the chisel oi 


S60 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


Agasias 1” I gasped, trembling. “ He is destroying the 
antiques !” 

Herr Claudius knocked loudly. “ Pray open the door, 
Herr Doctor I” he said, in a clear tone of command. 

My father burst into wild laughter. “ All that is 
written is false, false from beginning to end. Defend 
yourself if there is any of God’s immortal truth in you I 
Look how the yellow flame devours them ! See them 
whirl to the ceiling, — lies, lies that have been the pride 
of the famous man of science. Smoke, nothing but 
smoke 1” 

Herr Claudius started back in dismay, a thick vapour 
and a stifling odour came pouring through the keyhole 
and the cracks of the door. Something woollen was 
burning. 

“ He is burning his manuscript, and the flames have 
caught the curtains !” I cried, bursting into a loud wail 
of terror, as in my despair I threw myself against the 
door. Of what avail was my weak force against the 
massive lock that resisted me ? 

Herr Claudius rushed back to the observatory ; and 
then I remembered the little tapestried door in the library 
leading, through a spacious room filled with lumber, to the 
observatory. Even if it were locked, a slight exertion of 
strength would suffice to break it open. But there was 
no need of such exertion, a quick step within the library 
and an angry exclamation from my father told me that 
Herr Claudius had entered without trouble. The key 
turned in the lock, and the library door was flung open. 
What a sight ! Clouds of smoke, with tongues of flame 
shooting through them, and a crackling shower of sparks 
issuing from them, filled the cosy corner where my father’s 
writing-table stood. The fire burned but slowly among 
the heavy cloth curtains, but devoured all the moro 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS . 


361 


greedily the old pamphlets and manuscripts upon the 
book-shelves near the window. And there stood my 
father, madness in his voice and eye. He turned and 
tried to escape from Herr Claudius, who endeavoured to 
seize his arm and lead him from the room. Beneath his 
tread were crumbled the fragments of costly antique 
vases of earthenware lying everywhere upon the floor 
as they had been hurled about the room. 

I ran in. “ Go, go, Lenore 1 Remember how inflam- 
mable your dress is !” Herr Claudius cried out to me, in 
a voice of agony, as he prevented my father from casting 
himself, with a wild burst of laughter, into the flames. 
“ Run to the other house for help I” 

As I hurried away I saw my father stumble and fall 
over the marble figure lying in his path. Herr Claudius 
seized him, and in spite of his resistance bore him in his 
strong arms towards the door ; scarcely had I reached 
the hall when I heard them struggling at the head of 
the staircase. 

" Murderer, wretched murderer I” shrieked my father, 
so shrilly that the marble hall re-echoed. And then 
came a terrible crash. 

How I retraced my steps I cannot tell, — a whirlwind 
seemed to transport me to the foot of the staircase, where 
lay a dark, motionless heap upon the marble floor. 

Herr Claudius was already upon his feet ; he was hold- 
ing himself erect with one hand grasping the rail of the 
banister, and as the moon shone full upon the face that 
he turned towards me, I saw that it was deathly pale. 

“ Unfortunately we fell,” he said, breathless with ex- 
ertion, pointing to my father. “ He is unconscious, and 
1 cannot carry him any farther. My poor, poor child, 
you can hardly stand, and yet you must go for assist* 
ance ” 


31 


362 THE LITTLE MOORLAND rR INC ess. 

But I was already flying through the gardens. The 
fiery tongues of flame burst from the windows of the 
library behind me, and clouds of smoke floated away over 
the tops of the trees. 

“ The Karolinenlust is on fire!” I screamed, as soon as 
I reached the other house. 

In an instant all the household was roused. There 
was universal dismay when the fiery glow was discerned 
above the poplar grove by all who hurried into the court- 
yard, and every one who could be of any assistance hur- 
ried with buckets and tubs to the Karolinenlust, while 
two fire-engines were brought out of the carriage-house. 
The fire had also been observed from the side street, and 
crowds of men came pouring through the gate, so that 
in a short time the gardens and the space before the 
Karolinenlust swarmed with willing hands that broke 
the ice of the pond and carried water to the burning 
room. 

When I returned, Herr Claudius was still leaning 
against the banister ; his right hand held his left pressed 
to his breast. Grief hindered me from speaking as I knelt 
down beside my father, whose head was lying on the 
lowest step. His eyes were closed, and his thin face 
looked so shrunken and wan that I thought he must be 
dead. With a sob I hid my face in my hands. 

“ He is only stunned. As far as I am able to dis- 
cover, there are no bones broken,” said Herr Claudius. 
How I had learned to rely upon that voice in moments 
of distress, the voice so calm and self-possessed — and 
the owner of which I had once called an icicle because 
of it ! It gave me fresh courage. 

“ To Herr von Sassen’s room !” he ordered those who 
took up my father from the ground. “It is remote from 
the library, the walls are thick, and with the assistance 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


363 


now at our command the fire will shortly be extinguished. 
There can be no danger in Herr von Sassen’s room.” 

A crowd of men passed us and rushed up-stairs. 
"And you ?” I said to Herr Claudius, as we stepped 
aside, and the two men bearing my father were conducted 
by Fraulein Fliedner to our apartments. “ I know you 
are in pain ; you are hurt ! Oh, Herr Claudius, how you 
must repent taking my father and myself into your 
house ” 

“ Do you think so ?” An almost sunny smile for one 
moment chased away the expression of suffering that 
contracted his brows. “ I can hardly admit that, Lenore. 
I recognize the wisdom of the Providence that leads us 
through various stages of experience before we attain 
Paradise, but each one brings us nearer the goal, thank 
God 1” 

He went up to the library and I hurried to my father. 
He was lying quiet and motionless upon his bed, although, 
when one of the fire-engines came thundering across the 
bridge towards the house, he opened his eyes, and cast 
an unconscious glance around the room. From that 
moment he whispered perpetually to himself. Fraulein 
Fliedner was tenderly kind, and even Frau Helklorf, who 
had never been near the house since that unhappy Sun- 
day morning in the grove, conquered her dread of en- 
countering her father, and came to me immediately. 

1 sat beside the sick man, holding his burning hand in 
mine. His ghostly whispering, in which there was no 
pause, the sight of his suffering face, from which all trace 
of reason seemed forever fled, and my racking fears for 
Herr Claudius, whom I knew to be in the burning apart- 
ment, all together had reduced me to a state of dull 
despair. 

In the corner of the room a shaded night-lamp was 


364 THE little moorland princess . 

burning; the bed was in deep shadow, but the op^n 
space outside the window was all the brighter for the 
contrast. The smoke-clouds flitted above the silvery 
summits of the trees, and when the water from the engine 
sparkled in the air from the midst of the crowds below, 
the fluttering banners would half disperse, only, to my 
terror, to expand again more majestically than ever. 
“ Take care 1” was shouted out continually in the turmoil, 
as the most valuable articles, vases, mirrors, marble 
figures were carried past the windows and laid down 
beside the Diana on the little lawn ; piles of books were 
heaped up at the feet of the goddess, and the damask 
furniture and silken cushions looked oddly enough in the 
snowy, wintry landscape. 

Gradually the intense blackness of the clouds began to 
pale before my eager gaze ; the noise of running up and 
down stairs was less frequent ; nothing more was carried 
past the windows. 

“ The fire is subdued,” said Fraulein Fliedner, with a 
sigh of relief, and I buried my streaming eyes in the pil- 
lows. 

Charlotte entered the room. The skirt of her dress 
was torn in great rents, and the heavy braids of her hair 
were tumbling down upon her neck. She had been doing 
the work of a man in the extinguishing of the fire. 

“ This has been a charming evening for us, little Prin- 
cess,” she said, sitting wearily down upon a footstool at 
my feet, and resting her head upon my knee. “ Oh, child, 
if you knew all that is going on within me ! I tell you 
I have wondered whether it would not be better to let 
the fire swallow me up and put an end to all this torment 
here,” and she pressed her hand upon her breast. “As 
I passed those sealed doors it seemed to me that they 
must open and that my mother would stand upon the 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


365 


threshold and stretch forth her arms to snatch her un- 
happy child from among that crowd of men. For the 
first time I feel to-day that I cannot forgive my father for 
leaving ns so unconditionally to his brother’s care, trust- 
ing so absolutely in his faith and honour. However he 
may have suffered, he ought not to have died ; he should 
have lived for us, — he played a coward’s part.” 

By degrees the crowd without dispersed ; it grew 
quieter, and the hissing of the stream of water, still 
directed now and then towards the burned apartment, 
struck more sharply upon the ear. At last the physi- 
cian made his appearance. Whilst he was making a 
silent examination of the sick man, a powerful voice was 
heard distinctly in the sick-chamber from the corridor 
outside. 

“ Did I not declare, Herr Claudius, that the heathenish 
idols which your predecessor wisely hid from view, were 
an abomination in the sight of the Lord ?” asked the old 
bookkeeper, with a truly prophet-like intonation. 

“ The old fanatic is incorrigible 1” muttered Char- 
lotte. 

“Did I not foretell that fire would fall from heaven ?” 

“ It did not fall from heaven, Herr Eckhof,” Herr Clau- 
dius interrupted him, impatiently. 

“ You wilfully misunderstand, my dear sir,” said an- 
other voice, softly. 

“ Oh, there is that hypocrite of a diaconus, — the worst 
of the whole tribe ; they have just come from one of 
their pious gatherings, and this fire will delight their 
souls,” whispered Charlotte. 

“ Brother Eckhof knows perfectly that in our times the 
Lord does not send his judgments as directly from heaven 
as formerly,” the voice continued. “But his ways are 
always plain, if we only open our minds to understand 
31 * 


SG6 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


them. Yes, Herr Claudius, I am deeply grieved for this 
visitation, but I cannot but praise the Lord unceasingly 
for making known his will to you thus distinctly. In his 
justice and wisdom He has seen fit that the heathen 
abominations should be destroyed. I have just seen these 
miracles of art, as they are called, lying on the lawn much 
shattered and blackened with smoke ” 

He had no time to finish his exhortation ; for Herr 
Claudius, without wasting a word upon him, opened the 
door of my sitting-room, and I heard him enter. The 
physician went to him. Herr Claudius stood beside the 
table upon which a lamp was burning that illumined his 
features ; he still held his right hand pressing the left 
against his breast in the same strange way that I had 
noticed before. From where I sat I could see his look 
grow grave at the physician’s whispered words. 

“ You are suffering, also, Herr Claudius,” I heard the 
doctor say to him. 

“I have injured my arm,” he quietly replied ; “after 
awhile I will place myself under your care in the ether 
house.” 

“That’s right; and we must commit those eyes to 
darkness for a short time, I see,” said the doctor, sig- 
nificantly. 

“Hush, hushl you know that is my vulnerable 
point.” 

My pulses seemed to stand still. What if he should 
be blind ? Surely no mortal heart ever suffered as mine 
was suffering to-day. 

Charlotte arose hastily and went out. Almost imme- 
diately the door of my sitting-room was violently flung 
open, and quick footsteps entered. 

“ Herr Claudius, Herr Claudius, — oh, such villainy I” 
I heard the old bookkeeper gasp out. He came within 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


367 


my range of vision. All unction, all hypocritical pietism, 
had utterly vanished from his agitated countenance. 

Herr Claudius signed to him to moderate his voice ; 
hut he was in a state of too great excitement to pay any 
heed to the gesture. 

“That it should happen to me, — to me!” he cried, 
indignantly. “ Herr Claudius, some scoundrel has taken 
advantage of the general confusion to break into my 
room and carry off the box containing all my little 
savings. I can scarcely stand still, so great is my wrath. 
Mark what I say, — this will be my death !” 

“There is a sinful heat in your manner, Brother 
Eckhof,” the diaconus gently rebuked him. “ Remember 
that you are speaking of the mammon of unrighteous- 
ness. It is by no means certain, either, that the thief will 
not be discovered and your money restored to you. And, 
if not, remember that it is easier for a camel to go through 
a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom 
of God.” . As he spoke, I saw him regard Herr Claudius 
lixedly. “ Is not this precious consolation for those who 
are visited by the loss of worldly possessions ?” 

“ But there were a thousand thalers for missionary 
purposes in the box ; the money was to be sent off three 
days hence!” the bookkeeper groaned in despair, running 
his fingers through his smoothly-brushed hair. 

Now it was the turn of the Herr Diaconus to be startled. 

“ Oh, dear, dear, that is very unfortunate, my dear Herr 
Eckhof!” he cried, in dismay. “ Pray how could you take 

so so — forgive me — so little care of money intrusted 

to your safekeeping ? You know that the soul’s welfare 
of a fellow-being depends upon every groschen. What 
is to be done ? The money must be dispatched at the 
stated time. Our congregation has always been a pat- 
tern of punctuality ; it must not lose its reputation upon 


368 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


your account ; that you can easily see yourself. I am 
excessively sorry, but there is no help for it; the money 
must be forthcoming at the appointed time.” 

“ Good heavens, it is impossible I At this moment ' 
I am a beggar I” He held out his delicate white hand 
towards the lamp. “ Even my diamond ring, the gift of 
my former employer, has gone ; it was in the box also. 

I always put away from me all vain, worldly adornment 
when I go to church. Oh, gracious Lord, how have I, 
Thy most faithful servant, deserved this blow ?” 

The diaconus approached and laid a hand upon his 
arm. “ Come, come, do not despair, my dear Eckhof ; 
affairs look very dark, it is true, — dark, and grievous to be 
borne, but let me tell you that with such a master as 
yours there is no need to despair. Herr Claudius is a 
noble man, a wealthy man, — it will be a trifle for him to 
rescue you from your perplexity. He will risk nothing, 

— he can suspend your salary until he has repaid himself.” 

“ I cannot readily decide upon such a course, Herr Hia- 
conus,” said Herr Claudius, calmly. “ In the first place, 

I entirely disapprove of such arrangements, and then — 
you declared a short while since that, in His wisdom and 
justice, the Almighty had seen fit that some of the noblest 
ancient memorials of the human mind that He himself has 
created should be miserably destroyed. Well, then, I will 
speak for once from your own standpoint. I will declare, 
in your own one-sided and presumptuous way, that the Lord 
has seen fit to cause the disappearance of the money des- 
tined to admit to Christianity a pagan soul, — each of these 
doubtful converts costs a thousand thalers, I believe, — and 
further desires to show you, Herr Eckhof, that the church 
to which you have sacrificed those affections that He has 
implanted within you, is the most inexorable of creditors.” 

lie looked with proud composure ever his shoulder at 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 36 $* 

the little diaconus, who replied, with venomous emphasis, 
‘'We must be inexorable : it is our sacred duty. What 
would become of the church if Zion’s faithful watch 
men did not gather and save while the day lasts? And 
the more sweat and blood and poverty eacn groschen 
costs, the more acceptable is it in the eyes of the Lord. 
You are one of us, Herr Eckhof ; you know the laws 
that govern us, and will have the money in readiness. I 
wash my hands of the matter. I have done more than 
my duty : I have humbled myself before an unbeliever I” 
And with head erect, he walked to the door. 

Suddenly Frau Helldorf stood beside her father. 
“ Father,” she said, and her voice trembled, “ I can help 
you ; you know I have seven hundred thalers that were 
my mother’s, and I am sure my brother-in-law will let me 
have the rest, — he has laid by a little sum.” 

Eckhof started as the gentle tones fell upon his ear 
more crushingly than the severest denunciation. He 
looked into his daughter’s face for an instant, and then 
thrust her from him. “ Go, go, — I will not have your 
money !” he almost shrieked, and staggered from the 
room after the diaconus. 

“Do not be troubled, my dear Frau Helldorf,” Herr 
Claudius said soothingly to the weeping woman. “It 
would be the drop too much if your mite were to be 
swallowed up by their insatiate greed. I was compelled 
to be obdurate ; one cannot be too firm with people of 
that class. But take courage ; all will be well.” 

Whilst the others were discussing the matter, he came 
into the sick-room, where I sat in the dim light by my 
father’s bed, and, leaning over the sick man, listened to the 
incessant, monotonous murmur of his pale lips. 

“ He is happy in his delirium, — he is in sunn} 7, Greece,” 
Herr Claudius whispered to me after a pause. He was 


3 to THE little moorland princess. 

standing close beside me, — I hastily took his right hand 
in both my own and pressed it to my lips. My sin 
against him — my former rudeness — was expiated. 

He actually staggered ; not a word passed his lips for 
a moment, but he laid his hand upon my head and in- 
clined it backward so that he could look full into my 
eyes. Ah, how heavily the lids lay upon those deep-blue 
orbs of his ! 

“ Is all right between us now, Lenore ?” he asked at 
last, in a low tone. 

I bent my head in assent, never even thinking of the 
gloomy mystery that still lay between us. 


CHAPTER XXX. 

For several days my father hovered between life and 
death. The attack of frenzy, under the influence of which 
he had fired the Karolinenlust, was not, as I had feared, 
the beginning of insanity, but the first paroxysm of a 
nervous disease that had been lurking in his system for 
some days. I could not but be fully aware that his life 
was in danger, and I sat day and night by his bedside, 
almost fancying, in my old, defiant way, that death would 
not dare to extinguish the feeble spark of life while I 
kept watch and ward. And the time came, after a 
week of indescribable anxiety, when I knew that the 
dread messenger had passed by, and the physicians pro- 
nounced my father out of danger. Besides Frau Helldorf, 
I had a professional nurse to assist me, and the Duke’s 
physician, sent to us by his Highness, spent hours at a 
time in the Karolinenlust, watching over “the precious 


TITS LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 37 ] 

llffe 01 the distinguished scholar.” The gossiping sus- 
picion of the capital that the affair of the counterfeit coin 
would damage my father’s position at court, was proved 
to be without foundation. The Duke had never been more 
kind and sympathetic than during this sad season ; hia 
messengers appeared several times daily, with inquiries 
as to the state of the invalid, and, of course, in their train 
came numerous other liveried lackeys of the cringing 
court-coterie. 

There was a sick-room also in the other house. Herr 
Claudius’s fall had caused a painful dislocation of his left 
arm, and the smoke and dazzling light of the fire had 
brought on an inflammation of the eyes, from which at 
first the physicians feared the gravest consequences. I 
was wretched, for I could not see him. Whenever the 
physicians sent me from my post by my father out into 
the fresh air, I used to run across to the other house and 
insist upon seeing Fraulein Fliedner, and getting her 
personal testimony as to the state of the patient. With 
all his suffering he never forgot me. The window-sills 
and flower-tables in my room were perfect beds of violets, 
May-bells, and hyacinths. The atmosphere was filled with 
the fragrance of spring. The Duke’s physician declared 
that the little moorland Princess would surely die a poetic 
death, smothered in the odour of flowers, and old Schafer 
confided to me, with a grin, that bare places in the green- 
houses began to be apparent, and the head gardener was 
not at all pleased. Frau Helldorf, the physicians, and 
the nurse were all glad to seek refreshment in my gayly- 
decorated apartment from the adjoining darkened room, 
— only one person regarded it ungraciously, and that was 
my Aunt Christine. 

While my father lay unconscious, she came to see me 
daily. I must confess that I always trembled at her 


372 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


light footfall, her first visit to the sick-room had so dis- 
tressed me. Gracefully turning away from an inspection 
of the shrunken, suffering face upon the pillow, she 
whispered in my ear, “ You may as well prepare your- 
self for the worst, child ; he will soon be gone.” Since 
then I had feared her; but indignation took the place of 
fear when she came to my room one day and began: 
“Heavens, how exquisite!” And she clasped her white 
hands. “You must have an abundance of pocket-money, 
my love, to be able to afford such luxuries ?” 

“I did not buy the flowers, — Herr Claudius had them 
arranged here,” I said, in an offended tone. “ 1 allow 
myself luxuries !” 

She turned upon me, and I saw for the first time that 
those lovely eyes could shoot glances sharp as daggers. 
“ Is it your room, Lenore ?” she asked, in a cutting tone. 

I assented. 

“ Oh, then, my child, you are under a mistake. Well, 
well, it is perfectly excusable, — you are such a child!” 
she added, with a good-natured smile, stroking my cheek, 
caressingly, with her velvet finger. “ Old Schafer is a 
fool about his flowers, and yet he brings all these to 
adorn your room. Ah, you rogue, you have stolen the old 
man’s heart! A man like Herr Claudius, so grave and 
stern, and so devoted to the memory of a melancholv 
past, — as I have heard him described by Frau Helldorf 
and yourself, — would hardly take the trouble to bury such 
a little — forgive me, dear — bread-and-butter miss as your- 
self in the bloom of his green-houses.” 

I did not reply, but swallowed my vexation as best 1 
might. Her words might have depressed me, for I cer- 
tainly was a most insignificant little creature compared 
with the Juno that she was herself, had I not possessed 
the blissful conviction in the depths of my heart that the 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


373 


flowers did come from Herr Claudius. My aunt never 
entered my room again ; she said that even the few mo- 
ments she had spent in its close, “ hot-house” atmosphere 
had given her a terrible headache. 

Strangely enough, the beautiful woman with the melo- 
dious voice was never able to ingratiate herself with the 
inmates of the Swiss cottage ! Old Schafer, whenever I 
mentioned Aunt Christine, looked reproachfully at me, 
and said his pretty room was a sight to see, — the lady 
never touched a dust-cloth, and did not seem to know 
what the presses were for ; her clothes were left lying on 
the floor. Frau Helldorf scolded me one day when she 
had seen me giving my aunt money. 

“You are really doing wrong,” she said, “for you are 
encouraging idleness and extravagance. The table in 
her room is covered with confectionery of all kinds, and 
things to eat. The woman ought to be ashamed to eat 
oysters and pickled meats as she does, with a row of 
champagne bottles behind the sofa, and you paying for 
everything ! You must not do it ! Let her earn her 
living by giving singing lessons, — her voice is worn out, 
but her method is very brilliant.” 

Fortunately, I could assure her that Aunt Christine 
would not depend upon me much longer, — she had laid 
out a course of action for her future life. She was in 
great need of the counsel and assistance of some mascu- 
line intellect ; she had hoped to receive both from my 
father, — but since he had repulsed her so pitilessly, she 
had resolved to wait until Herr Claudius had recovered 
his health ; from all that she heard of him she was con- 
vinced that he would afford her the aid and advice of 
which she stood in need. I thought all this very sensi- 
ble, and was a little provoked when Frau Helldorf with 
a shake of the head observed that for her part she thought 

32 


374 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS 


Herr Claudius would have very little to do with a woman 
with such a painted face. The little Frau was an un- 
speakable comfort to me all through this anxious time. 
What a sacrifice it was to her to come to the House of 
which her implacable parent was an inmate I Sne always 
entered my room out of breath with the haste that the fear 
of meeting him had enjoined upon her. And yet in spite 
of all she loved her father dearly, and was in great dis- 
tress when she heard that he had pledged everything 
that he possessed to raise the missing money for the 
missionary fund. Not a trace of the thief could be dis- 
covered. The old bookkeeper seemed to me greatly 
altered, — he saluted me now, whenever he encountered 
me, and even came two or three times to inquire after 
my father. Charlotte confirmed me in my opinion of 
oim. She angrily maintained that he avoided Dagobert 
and herself, that “the old fool” repented betraying his 
master’s secret, and would in the end, she clearly fore- 
saw, fail them at the decisive moment. The passionate 
girl was wretched. The Princess was ill and had been 
in strict retirement since the evening in the other house, 
which she appeared entirely to ignore. What was to be 
done? Charlotte rejected with indignation my proposal 
to confide in Herr Claudius himself, remarking with a 
sneer that the fragrance of the flowers in my room had 
bribed and bewildered me. I desisted from all further 
reply to her complaints. 

Five weeks had passed since the fire, and my time of 
nursing was over. My father had left his bed, and was 
recovering rapidly. The physicians had judiciously in- 
formed him of what had occurred, and, to the surprise of 
every one, he had made no great lament over the loss of 
his manuscript. He was far more deeply affected by the 
knowledge that a number of valuable books and papers 


TI1E LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


375 


had been burned, that some of the finest specimens of 
antique pottery were destroyed, and that it had been im- 
possible to recover the broken hands of the marble boy. 
He shed tears of distress and almost refused all consola- 
tion when he thought that he had been the cause of such 
losses to Herr Claudius and the world. The Duke paid 
him frequent visits, thereby insensibly leading him back 
into his old grooves of study and labour, and he began 
to meditate fresh tasks and undertakings. 

He treated me with infinite tenderness : his illness had 
brought us very near to each other ; he could not bear 
to have me away from him, although he often and seri- 
ously assured me that when the spring came he should 
send me to the Dierkhof for a month. I had grown pale, 
and needed change of air. 

It was a gloomy afternoon in March. For the first 
time for five weeks, I started to go to the Swiss cottage. 
My aunt had written me a short note, reproaching me for 
my continued neglect of her, now that my father was re- 
covered. In the hall Charlotte came rushing towards me. 
I recoiled from her, — I had never seen such wild ecstasy 
of triumph in any eyes before. She took a paper from 
her pocket and held it out to me. 

“ There, child!” she gasped, out of breath. “ At last, 

at last, my sun is rising! Ah ” She opened her 

arms wide as if to embrace the world. “ Look at me, 
little one. I am happy. To-day, for the first time, I can 
say ‘ My aunt, the Princess.’ Oh, she is so good, so 
noble ! Only the high-born can so triumph over them- 
selves ! She writes me that she will see and speak with 
me. I am to go to her to-morrow. If our claims are 
well founded, — ah, I should like to see who can dispute 
them 1 — everything shall be done to reinstate us in 
our rights. She has already consulted the Duke in tho 


376 tiie little moorland princess. 

matter, — the Duke, do you hear? Do you know what 
that means ? We shall be acknowledged as the children 
of the Princess Sidonie, and take our rank as members 
of the family of our sovereign.” 

I shuddered, — the crisis was at hand. 

“Are you really going to bring matters to a point 
while Herr Claudius is still ill ?” I asked in an uncertain 
voice. 

“Ah, bah I — he is not ill now. There is light in his 
room ; he wears a shade over his eyes ; but to-day he is 
to move into the small room next mine, where the cur- 
tains are not at all thick. He indulged himself to-day 
in giving Eckhof a birthday present, — a charming porte- 
monnaie containing a thousand thalers, so the old man 
can redeem his possessions again. He was so over- 
whelmed, that I had a terrible fright lest he should fall 
at Uncle Erich’s feet and confess his tattling to us. For- 
tunately, his emotion deprived him of utterance. For my 
part, I have grown as hard as a stone, — these last weeks 
have been terrible, and Dagobert has scolded me from 
morning until night for what he calls my ‘ clumsy com 
duct of the affair.’ I have no compassion in me, and if 
Uncle Erich were to be summoned up for trial at this 
moment, I would not lift a finger to prevent it.” 

She accompanied me to the woodland gate, and as ] 
Jeft her, I saw her rapidly ascending the wooded hill, — . 
the joy that filled her soul drove her up that mountain- 
height where she could breathe it abroad, while I would 
gladly have shrunk into the darkest corner of the Karo- 
linenlust, there to conceal my pain, my fears for Herr 
Claudius. 

I slipped past my Aunt Christine’s room, whence, to 
my amazement, sounded the barking of a dog, and went 
up-stairs. In Frau Helldorf’s cosy sitting-room I had 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


377 


always found peace and consolation. I was welcomed 
with delight. Herr Helldorf held out both hands to me, 
Gretchen embraced my knees, and little Hermann sat 
crowing upon the floor, holding up his arms to be taken. 
The little Frau instantly made delicious coffee, brought 
out a cake that had been put by for my special benefit, 
and we soon made a happy circle around the table. 
Now and then our conversation was interrupted by a 
bold roulade, or a trill like a string of pearls, from the 
room below. Aunt Christine was singing, or rather 
trilling, — whenever she struck a note and tried to hold it 
firmly, my heart sank within me, — the voice that must 
once have been so enchanting was utterly broken. 

“ That woman must soon go to work at something, 
— she leads a perfectly idle life,” Herr Helldorf said, 
with a slight frown. “ Her method is good, and I offered 
to procure her scholars; she can very easily earn a 
handsome living. But I never shall forget the arrogant 
glance, the scornful smile, with which she thanked me for 
my ‘kind patronage.’ Since then she has never been 
near us.” 

“ Blanche is barking ; some one is coming, mamma,” 
said Gretchen. 

“ Yes, — Blanche, a new inmate of the Swiss cottage, 
has yet to be presented to you, Lenore,” said Frau 
Helldorf, smiling. “ Your aunt purchased a charming 
little silky lapdog yesterday. Schafer is very angry; 
he says he cannot endure the cross little thing ” 

Suddenly she paused and listened ; a firm, manly tread 
was heard upon the stairs ; it approached the door of the 
room and waited for a moment outside. Frau Helldorf’s 
face grew ashy pale ; she scarcely breathed, but stood 
motionless as a statue, entirely unable to move a step 
towards the door to open it. A band was laid upon the 
32 * 


378 THE little moorland princess. 


latch outside; it was lifted, and a tall figure stood hesi* 
tating upon the threshold. 

“Father, dearest !” cried the young wife, and her voice 
rose almost to a shriek between an agonized sob and a 
shout of joy. Eckhof held out his arms and clasped her 
to his heart. 

“ I have been cruel, Anna ; forgive me,” he said, in a 
failing voice. 

She made no reply : she only buried her face deeper in 
the bosom from which she had so long been an outcast. 
The old man held out his hand without a word to his 
son-in-law. Helldorf, with moistened eyes, took it and 
shook it cordially. 

“I will give you my hand, too, grandpapa,” said 
Gretchen, standing on tiptoe and holding out her chubby 
little hand. 

I stole to the door and slipped out noiselessly. Inti- 
mate as I was with the Helldorfs, now that those so 
long sundered were again meeting as father and daugh- 
ter, I did not belong among them ; the moment was too 
sacred to be intruded upon by a stranger. But there was 
sunshine within me at the sight, — sunshine like that which, 
strange to say, broke forth from the cloudy March sky at 
the moment, and illumined, with its wintry ray, the pleas- 
ant room and the family portraits on the walls, making 
them smile, in sj^mpathy with the joy of reconciliation. 

My aunt was lying upon the sofa as I entered her 
room. Blanche, in a fury, flew at me and buried her 
teeth in my dress. I gave her a little tap upon the head 
that sent her whining back to her mistress’s lap. 

“ No, no, Lenore, you must not strike my pet!” Aunt 
Christine called out to me, with a pout. “Now Blanche 
is offended with you, and you will have to try very hard 

make her love you.” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 379 

I inwardly determined that my efforts in that direction 
should not be fatiguing. 

“ Look, isn’t she a charming creature ?” She stroked the 
long silken hair caressingly away from the eyes of the 
really beautiful little animal. “And only think, I bought 
her for almost nothing. The man who sold her was very 
poor ; I only paid him four thalers for her, — it was really 
giving her away.” 

In my amazement I could not utter a word. I had 
very lately honestly divided my money with Aunt Chris- 
tine, whose half had amounted to eight thalers 1 

“ I used to have just such another little silky darling; 
he was a present from Count Stettenheim, and cost more 
louis-d’ors than Blanche did thalers. Nothing more lovely 
could be imagined than that creature upon his blue satin 
cushion. Poor thing ! he was choked at last by the wing 
of a pheasant.” 

So she talked on, with a smile that deepened the lovely 
dimples in her cheeks, and parted her lips so as to show 
the perfectly uniform little teeth, white as mother-of- 
pearl. The beautiful woman’s hair was dressed to per- 
fection, — but I was actually shocked at her attire. A 
worn violet silk dressing-gown, much soiled, hung loosely 
about her graceful form, and at the neck and through the 
holes in the elbows there appeared a night-dress of very 
doubtful hue. But her toilet was quite in harmony with 
her surroundings. On the floor in the middle of the room 
was a pair of white satin slippers, evidently used alike 
for dressing-slippers and playthings for Blanche. Thick 
dust lay everywhere upon the tables and chairs that had 
been so faultlessly neat, and behind the bed-curtains 
pillows and clothes were all tossed together in a dis- 
orderly heap. The air was heavy with the delicate 
odour of violets. 


380 


TIJE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


“ I'm sure you think my room very disorderly,” she 
said, interpreting my look ; “ I did not want to complain 
to you while you had so much to worry you. Those 
little shoulders had enough to bear. But now I must 
tell you that I am wretched in this hole. Schafer is a 
perfect fool ; the man has not the faintest idea of the re- 
quirements of a woman like myself, who has been made 
an actual idol of by all the world her whole life long. 
Instead of providing, as all owners of lodgings do, for 
his room’s being taken care of every day, he seems to 
expect that I should dust his furniture and sweep his 
floor myself ! Ridiculous !” 

She began to crack some almonds which she took from 
a china basket filled with almonds and grapes. 

“ Take some,” she said to me, giving Blanche a 
grape. “ I cannot offer you much, to be sure, but only 
a rogue gives more than he has. All will soon be differ- 
ent, and then you shall see what charming dinners I can 
arrange. Apropos, to go back to Schafer. The old hypo- 
crite can be very impertinent. Only think, while I was 
buying Blanche and giving the man the money, he had 
the insolence to rebuke me and demand that I should 
instead pay him his rent for the room, and the money 
he has spent for fuel and light since I have been here. 
Surely I have nothing to do with that, my love. You 
lodge me here, do you not?” 

Here was fresh trouble! What would become ot 
me? If I wrote night and day for Herr Claudius I 
could not possibly make enough to support my aunt. A 
vision of Use’s face arose before me, — how often I had 
blamed her as hard and cruel because she did all that she 
could to prevent my having anything to do with my 
aunt ! I was paying the penalty for all that. 

“Aunt ! I must tell you that my moans are very 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


381 


limited,” I began in great confusion, but very firmly. “I 
will be frank and confess to you, what even my father does 
not know, that I earn the money for our little housekeep* 
ing by writing labels for Herr Claudius. ” 

At first she looked at me in bewilderment, and then 
she burst into uncontrollable laughter. “And these, 
then, are the poetical relations existing between you ? It 

is too delicious ! And I was so childish as to fear 

Well, little one,” she gayly interrupted herself, “there 
shall be no more of that when my affairs improve, — rely 
upon it ! I won’t have it ! Fi done, how prosaic ! You 
should see how I would manage that man. Writing 
labels ? why, it must be very hard work ; I cannot pos- 
sibly live any longer upon your earnings 1 But what is 
to be done ? My child, I am counting the minutes until 
Herr Claudius is well enough to speak to me!” 

“ He leaves his room to-day for the first time.” 

“ Heavens ! And you never told me that before ?” She 
started up from her reclining posture. “ Don’t you know 
that every moment lost is misery to me ? Have I not 
told you repeatedly that I have determined to place 
my future in this man’s hands, and that my weal and 
woe will depend upon the counsel that he gives me ?” 

“I do not think, my dear aunt, that he can prove a 
better adviser than Herr Helldorf,” I said. “ Herr Clau- 
dius holds himself quite aloof from society, while Hell- 
dorf as a teacher has a very wide acquaintance in the 
capital. He told me very lately that you could make a 
handsome living if ” 

“Pray,” she interrupted me, very coldly, “reserve 
your wisdom for your own use. How and where I 
begin my future career is my affair, and I confess that I 
wish to have nothing whatever to do with those people 
up-stairs, still less to place myself under the slightest 


382 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


obligations to them. Such very low bourgeois acquaint* 
ances are sure to be a drag upon one, — and — enfin , child, 
they move in a very different sphere from the one in 
which my life has been passed. And now let me entreat 
you tc procure me an interview with Herr Claudius.” 

I arose, and she, putting her feet down from the sofa, 
slipped on the satin slippers, giving me an opportunity U 
remark that her small feet were clad in flesh-coloured silk 
stockings. 

“ Oh, you little puss !” she laughed gayly, as, standing 
erect in all her slender grace, she stroked my hair. We 
were facing the mirror, into which involuntarily I cast 
a glance. My dark complexion, although fresh and 
clear, did not shine, in contrast with my aunt’s smooth, 
white brow, — but to-day for the first time I saw the 
disgusting paint that was thick on some parts of her 
face. I felt deeply ashamed for her when I thought 
that Herr Claudius’s keen, stern gaze would rest upon 
her ; but although I repeatedly opened my lips to beg her 
at least to wipe her face with her pocket-handkerchief, 
the words would not come at my bidding, especially when 
she called me “a little brown hazelnut,” and wondered 
how I came by “ that velvet gipsy skin,” since the 
Jacobsohns had always been noted, as her own face 
could testify, for a lily-white complexion. 

I withdrew from her caresses, and left the room, as- 
suring her that I would go directly to Fraulein Fliedner, 
and advise with her as to how the desired interview was 
to be obtained. 

Then with a fervent kiss I was dismissed. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


383 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

u My dear Lenore, the best thing to do is to ask 
Herr Claudius himself, ” Fraulein Eliedner interrupted 
me, smiling, when I was only half through with an ex- 
planation of my mission. 

“ Is he to be seen ?” 1 asked, in some disquiet. 

“ Certainly, by any one. Go up-stairs to the room 
where Lothar’s picture hangs ; there have been many 
visitors there to-day ; it serves as a counting-room at 
present. ,, 

I went up-stairs. At the door I paused and pressed my 
hands to my heart. I thought its wild throbbing would 
stifle me. Then I entered very softly. The room was not so 
dark as I expected to find it. The green stuff curtains at 
the windows admitted a mild, pleasing light. Herr Clau- 
dius was sitting in an arm-chair, turned from me, his 
nead leaning against the back of the chair ; his eyes were 
covered by a shade. He did not seem to notice that any 
one had entered, or perhaps he supposed that it was Friiu- 
lein Fliedner, for he did not change his attitude in the 
least. 

My longing desire was fulfilled. I saw him again ! I 
could not speak ; I dreaded the sound of my own voice 
in the quiet room. My approach was almost inaudible, 
and I timidly took his left hand as it hung over the arm 
of his chair. The blonde head never stirred from where 
it calmly reclined, but quick as thought the right hand 
was raised and I suddenly felt my own imprisoned. 

“ Aha ! I know whose little brown hand this is that 
trembles in my clasp like a shy bird,” he cried, without 
moving. “ I heard its owner come tripping up the stairs, 


384 THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 

and the footsteps said distinctly, 1 Shall I go in or not ? 
Shall pity for the poor prisoner triumph, or shall the old 
waywardness have sway that bids me wait until he can 
leave his prison and come to me V ” 

“ Oh, Herr Claudius,” I interrupted him, “ I was not 
defiant 1” 

He turned his face towards me without letting go my 
hand. 

“ No, no, you were not, Lenore,” he said, in a low voice. 
{< I know it. Those about me never dreamed why I al 
ways grew so impatient of every noise as twilight came 
ou, and ordered that the most profound silence should 
reign in the house. At that hour I listened, with an in- 
tensity that came from my heart, for the girlish footstep 
that I knew was just leaving the Karolinenlust and com- 
ing swiftly through the gardens. I heard it upon the stairs, 
and waited with breathless eagerness for the half-whis- 
pered ‘ How is he ? Has he much pain V Certainly that 
was anything but defiant. And then I could see how the 
dark curls would be tossed back from the brow with that 
gesture that I know so well, and the large eyes that I so 
love would be riveted upon Fraulein Fliedner’s face, wait- 
ing for her reply.” 

I forgot everything that interposed between us, and 
resigned myself to the magic of the moment. 

“ Ah, she did not understand me so well,” I said, with- 
out stopping to think what I was saying. “ I longed so 
to have her bring me to see you. I should have been 
comforted if I could only have looked into your poor 
eyes, and you could have told me, ‘I see you.’ Please lift 
the shade once for me.” 

He sprang up, took off the shade, and threw it upon 
the table, standing before me as firm and elastic in his 
bearing as ever. “ Now, then, I see you !” he replied, 


TEE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


385 


smiling. “ I see that my little Lenore has not grown 
a hair’s breadth in all these five long weeks, and that 
her curly head will always just reach to my heart. I 
see, too, that she can toss this same head as indignantly 
as ever ; but what affair is it of hers if nature chose 
to see an actual fairy among her creations ? I see, be- 
sides, that you have grown pale, — pale from anxiety and 
long night-watches. My poor Lenore, we have much to 
atone for, — your father and myself 1” 

He took my hand, and would have drawn me towards 
him, but the action restored me to full consciousness of 
my guilty conscience. 

i drew my hand from his. “No,” I cried, “do not 
be kind to me ; I do not deserve kindness at your hands. 
If you knew what a detestable creature I am, how treach- 
erous, false, and cruel I can be, you would thrust me from 

your doors ” 

“ Lenore 1” 

I ran from him to the door. “ Do not call me Lenore. 
1 would rather a thousand times hear you call me wild, 
defiant, and unmannerly, even unfeminine, than to have 
you pronounce my name so gently and kindly. I have 
injured you ; I have done you wrong whenever I could ; 
1 have aspersed your character, and taken part with your 
enemies. You will never forgive me, — never ! I know 

it so well that I do not dare to ask ” 

I put my hand upon the handle of the door, but in a 
moment he stood by my side. “ Do you really suppose 
that I shall allow you to leave me in your present agi- 
tated condition ? — with those pale, trembling lips that so 
distress me V 9 he said, gently taking my hand from the 
door-handle. “ Try to compose yourself, and listen to me. 
You came hither utterly untried, undisciplined, looking 
out upc n the world with the innocent eyes of a child. I 
Z 33 


386 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


take great blame to myself that I did not instantly rid 
my house of the evil influences that you found here, since 
I knew from the first that a crisis in my life was at hand, 
and that all must be different. True, your dislike of me, 
so distinctly announced from the first, partly induced me 
to resign myself to things as they were. I was too proud 
to forget, and contented myself with simply warning 
you. I delayed too long the doing of what seemed piti- 
less, and yet was the only right course to take ; there 
was no room for both Charlotte and yourself in my 
house, — she should have been removed. Whatever 
happens now, whatever injury you may have done me 
from simple ignorance of circumstances, needs not one 
word of forgiveness ; it is as much my fault as yours. 
There is only one way in which you can really hurt 
me, and that is, if — as you have often done before — 
you should turn coldly from me. No, I cannot bear 
this !” he interrupted himself, as I burst into tears. “ If 
you must weep, my darling, it must always be here.” 
He drew me towards him, and laid my head upon his 
breast. “ There, and now be comforted, and tell me 
everything. I will look straight up at the curtain and 
listen with half- averted ears.” 

“ I must not speak,” I said, with a sob. “ How glad 
I should be if I might only tell you everything! But the 

time will come, and then One thing I may tell you, for 

I did it all myself : I slandered you at court ; I said you 
were cold as ice, and thought you knew better than any 
one else ” 

He smiled. “ What a terrible tongue my little Lenore 
has !” he said. 

I raised my head, and tried to free myself from his 
arm. “ Do not think that all the injury I have done you 
has been the work of my childish tongue !” I cried. 


THE LITTLE M(? jRLAND PRINCESS. 


387 


“ I do not think so at all,” he said, soothingly, whilst 
a sunny smile still played about his lips. “ I will pa- 
tiently await the issue of all these terrible machinations, 
and then pronounce sentence upon you, — does that satisfy 
you ?” 

I assented. 

“ But you must submit unconditionally to the penalties 
1 shall impose.” 

With a sigh of relief I replied, “ Oh, how willingly I” 

And then I dried my tears and began to speak of my 
aunt. 

“ I have already heard from Fraulein Fliedner of the 
strange guest who has taken shelter beneath the wing of 
the thoughtless moorland lark,” he interrupted my com- 
munications. “ Is she the person to whom you sent the 
money ?” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Hm ! — that does not look -well. I have the greatest 
confidence in Frau Use, and she had a very poor opinion 
of this aunt. What induced the lady to propose seeing 
me , — what can she want with me ?” 

“ She wants you to advise her. Oh, please, Herr 
Claudius, be kind 1 My father has cast her off!” 

“ And yet she wishes to live in a place where she is 
in constant danger of meeting him. It does not please 
me. But, at all events, I must receive her, as I cer- 
tainly cannot allow the little moorland Princess to be 
drawn into any relations that I do not thoroughly investi- 
gate. Frau what is her name ?” 

“ Christine Paccini.” 

“ Frau Christine Paccini, then, is invited to tea in the 
Claudius house this evening. You can go and tell her 
so. Now, do I not deserve even a clasp : f the hand for 
my compliance ?” 


388 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


I turned and put my band in his with a warm pressure, 
and then flew down-stairs. 

I think that my feet had never been so winged with 
joy, even when I had been free from care upon my 
darling moor, as upon this afternoon as I passed through 
the gardens. I could never more wander lonely in the 
wide world; that hand would protect me everywhere. 
No terror could assail me, for I would flee from it to the 
shelter of those arms. How timidly I had resigned my- 
self to them, and what i\ blissful sense of repose had then 
stolen over me ! — just so when I was a child, Use’s arms 
had been my happy refuge. 

When I entered Aunt Christine’s room, I found her 
making a cup of chocolate. Blanche was running about 
on the large round table, licking at the pieces of chocolate 
and eating cakes from the plate. Heavens ! what a con- 
fusion there was among Blanche, the chocolate, and the 
cakes when I told my aunt that Herr Claudius requested 
her to take tea in the other house this very afternoon ! I 
saw then how she had anticipated and longed for this 
interview. With a half-triumphant, half-absent smile, 
she opened by turns trunks, drawers, and boxes, and I 
had a glimpse into a chaos of faded flowers, ribbons, and 
lace. 

“ My love, I must of course dress immediately, and 
really this room is so small, you had better go up to the 
Helldorfs and wait for me,” she said, hurriedly. “ But 
you must do me one favour: go to Schafer, — I cannot 
speak to him, he is so impertinent ; he has some magnifi- 
cent yellow roses in bloom : tell him to cut me some, and 
pay him whatever he asks for them, — you shall have it 
again to-morrow. Go, go 1” she cried, hastily, and thrust 
me from the door as I looked at her in surprise. “ I always 
carry flowers in my hand when I make an evening visit.” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


389 


Schafer gave me the roses, and I took them to her, and 
then went to my father and asked his permission to take 
tea in the other house. 

An hour later, I walked through the gardens beside my 
Aunt Christine. When I called for her, I found her al- 
ready equipped in cloak and hood with her veil over her 
face. It was nearly dark, and a fine rain was beginning 
to fall, as we took the path towards the bridge. 

“Where are the ladies going?” asked a voice behind 
us. It was Charlotte, who was just returning from her 
walk. 

“ I am going to introduce my aunt at the other house,” 
I replied. 

The young girl said not a word in reply, and Aunt 
Christine was also silent. I suddenly felt a distressing 
presentiment of evil. The two ladies crossed the bridge 
in advance of me. Strange ! it looked almost ghostly, — 
so great was the resemblance between their figures : both 
had the same proud, scornful turn of the head, the same 
formation of the shoulders, the same gait, and it seemed 
to me there was not a hair’s breadth of difference in their 
height. They looked precisely alike, and yet how far 
aloof they were in all beside ! Charlotte maintained a 
haughty reserve. 

“ Pray take off your wraps in my room,” she said, 
coldly, in the corridor up-stairs. 

We entered the apartment, where all was warm and 
bright. Fraulein Fliedner was arranging the tea-table, 
and received us rather distantly. 

“ Where is Herr Claudius?” my aunt asked me, in a low 
voice ; they were the first words that had passed her lips 
since we left the Swiss cottage. 

I pointed silently to the drawing-room door. 

“ Heavens, a grand piano J” she cried, gleefully, and 
33 * 


390 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


ran to the instrument. “ How long it is sinc$ I have had 
the delight of even seeing one ! Allow me only to touch 
the keys for a moment ! Please, please 1 I shall be as 
happy as a child if I may only strike a couple of chords 1” 

In an instant cloak and hood were thrown upon the 
nearest chair, and, to my unspeakable amazement, Aunt 
Christine appeared in full evening dress. A long train of 
heavy, white satin swept the floor, and from the laco 
tucker of the decolletee waist of the dress arose a bust 
that vied in colour and outline with the loveliest Grecian 
goddess in the antique cabinet. How heavily the long 
curls lay on neck and bosom, and how dreamily lovely 
were the fresh, dewy roses scattered among the masses 
of blue-black hair ! 

“ Rather too loud !” Charlotte murmured, dryly. But 
my aunt sank upon the piano-stool, the instrument thun- 
dered beneath her touch, and the walls re-echoed a pow- 
erful but no longer melodious voice, as she began “ Gia la 
luna in mezzo al mare.” 

The door of the drawing-room was flung ( pen, and Herr 
Claudius, pale as a ghost, stood upon the tlreshold, while 
Dagobert’s face of surprise appeared over his shoulder. 

“ Diana !” exclaimed Herr Claudius, in a tone of actual 
horror. 

Aunt Christine flew to him and hill up > l her knees. 
“Pardon, Claudius, — pardon!” she imj lored, almost 
touching the carpet with her forehead. “D-.gobert, Char- 
lotte, my children, aliens to my aching maternal heart 
for so long, help me to entreat him to rest ore me to the 
place I once held in his affection !” 

Charlotte uttered a cry of dismay. “ Actress!” she 
stammered. “ Who has hired you tc pla r this part so 
well, madarne ?” she asked, with bitter emphasis. Then 
she turned to me, angrily: “ Lenore, you have betrayed 
us 1” she almost screamed. 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


391 


Instantly Herr Claudius stood between us, and mo- 
tioned her from me. “ Take Fraulein von Sassen away,” 
he said to Fraulein Fliedner. How his voice trembled, 
how he struggled to master the terrible emotion 4 hat 
threatened to overwhelm him ! 

Fraulein Fliedner put her arm around me, and led me 
into the room where Lothar’s picture hung; the door 
was immediately closed behind us. The old lady trembled 
like an aspen-leaf ; her teeth chattered with a nervous 
chill. 

“You have brought an evil guest to our house, 
Lenore,” she said, listening anxiously to the tones of 
Aunt Christine’s melodious voice, which continued to 
sound almost uninterruptedly in the adjoining room. 
“ But you could not know that she is the false, faithless 
Diana who caused him such suffering. God forbid she 
should ever regain her power over him ! She is still 
enchantingly lovely!” 

I put my hands to my head, — was not everything fall- 
ing to ruins around me ? 

“How cunningly she has contrived it!” Fraulein 
Fliedner continued, bitterly. “ How she bursts upon all 
concerned ! She reminds her children of her * aching 
maternal heart,’ when she forsook them so shame- 
fully ” 

“ Is she really Dagobert’s and Charlotte’s mother ?” I 
gasped. 

“ Child, can you doubt it after all that you have seen 
and heard ?” 

“ I thought they were his” — I pointed to Lothar’s 
portrait — “and the Princess’s children,” I murmured. 

She stared at me. “Ah, now I begin to under- 
stand!” she cried. “This is the key to Charlotte’s 
incomprehensible conduct and bearing! She thinks as 
you do ! She thinks she was born in the Karolinenlust, 


392 


Till] LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS 


does she not ? I should really like to know who dis* 
covered and betrayed, so recklessly and foolishly, a secret 
so carefully guarded. Let me tell you that there cer- 
tainly were two children born in the Karolinenlust, both 
boys ; but one died a few hours after its birth, and the 
other within a year. Dagobert and Charlotte are the 
children of Captain Mericourt, to whom your aunt was 
married in Paris, and who was killed in Algeria. My 
poor child, your good angel deserted you when you took 
this woman under your protection. She will bring mis- 
fortune upon all of us, — all of us !” 

I buried my face in my hands. 

“ When Erich first knew her,” the old lady continued, 
“ she was already a widow, and prima donna of the French 
opera. Her children were under the care of a Madame 
Godin. Erich was as fond of them as if they were his 
own ; and although the mother caused him such suffering, 
he was so magnanimous as to adopt them when the 
worthless woman forsook them, leaving them without 
any means of support. Madame Godin died soon after- 
wards, and he enjoined the strictest silence upon me, to 
whom alone he confided the secret of their birth ; he 
wished to spare the children the humiliating pain that 
the knowledge of their mother’s dishonour would cause 
them ; he has been but poorly rewarded for his kftidness.” 

She wrung her hands silently, and walked to and fro. 
“Not that, not that!” she murmured. “The beguiling 
power of that voice is actually demonic, — I hear it im- 
ploring, caressing, lamenting, — she will cast fresh spells 
around him.” 

“Oh, uncle, Uncle Erich, I am in torture, — wretched, 
ungrateful creature that I am !” we heard Charlotte cry 
out in tones of heart-piercing anguish. 

I ran out of the door, down-stairs, and through the 
gardens. My own folly and guilt had thrust r.c from 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


393 


my Paradise. In spite of Use’s energetic opposition and 
warning, in spite of my father’s will, I had secretly per- 
sisted in maintaining relations with this miserable aunt 
of mine I had restored to the man whom I loved with 
all the force of my nature, the evil genius of his youth, 
— she would regain her old influence and poison his future 
existence 1 

In the hall of the Karolinenlust, where the bright lamp- 
light fell upon me, I paused in my insane flight. I could 
not go to my father with my hair and clothes dripping 
from the March rain that was falling ceaselessly and 
silently ; every nerve in my body was quivering, and my 
cheeks burned feverishly. I went into my bedroom, 
changed my clothes, and drank a glass of cold water. I 
must be calm, perfectly calm, if I would attain what 
seemed to me my only salvation. 

My father was sitting in his room, in a comfortable 
arm-chair, alternately reading and writing, with a steam- 
ing cup of tea beside him. He looked more bright and 
cheerful than I had ever seen him, since his illness, and 
the same dear old absent smile hovered upon his lips. In 
the next room, Frau Silber, the nurse, was preparing 
his evening meal, and regulating the warmth of the 
apartment by the thermometer, — she even signed to me 
not to enter too abruptly. She was the personification 
of watchful care and kindness; I could not commit my 
father to better hands. 

I seated myself upon the footstool at his feet, so that 
my face was entirely in shadow. He told me, smiling, 
that the Duke’s physician had accorded him permission 
to drive out the next day, and that the Duke himself was 
to call for him ; and then, stroking my cheek, he said ht> 
was glad that my stay in the Claudius house had not 
been long, and that I was with him again. 

“ What will you do, then, father, when I iro to snend 


394 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


four weeks at the Dierkhof?” I asked, retreating stilt 
farther into the shadow. 

“I must make the best of it, Lorchen, ,, he said. “You 
must go back to your home for awhile to regain your 
strength. Both my physicians tell me that you abso* 
lutely require the change. As soon as it is warm ” 

“ It is warm to-night, — very mild,” I hastily inter- 
rupted him. “ Indeed, I am fairly pining for the moor. 
I am getting ill, — nothing, it seems to me, will do me any 
good but the fresh moorland air. Wfiy will you not let 
me go this very evening, father?” 

He looked at me in surprise. 

“ It seems to you a hair-brained idea, does it not ?” I 
said, with a poor attempt at a smile. “ But it is more 
sensible than you think. The air is deliciously balmy ; I 
can leave by the night train, and to-morrow night be in 
my own dear Dierkhof, — drink milk, and breathe the 
moorland air for a month, and then come back well and 
strong when everything here is — is beautiful, when the 
trees are in full leaf, and all will be well. Let me go, 
father. There need be no trouble. Frau Silber will be 
with you ; you could not be better taken care of. Say 
‘ yes,’ father.” 

“ What do you say, Frau Silber ?” he asked, in a tone 
of indecision. 

“Oh, let Fraulein Lorchen go, Herr Doctor,” said the 
good old woman, appearing on the threshold of the door. 
“ There is no use resisting nature, and if Fraulein Lor- 
chen feels as if she should be ill, and only the moorland 
air can cure her, for Heaven’s sake, don’t oppose her. 
The train leaves in an hour. I will help her to pack, and 
take her to the depot.” 

And so I left the Karolinenlust. It was pitch-dark, 
and my companion could not see the tears streaming 
down mv face as I waved a farewell to the green-nouse, 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


395 


where I had passed a moment of such exquisite happi- 
ness. I tried not to look up at the windows of the other 
house as we passed through the courtyard ; but what 
availed my trying when my heart was wrung with such 
agony at leaving it? My gaze was riveted upon the flood 
of light in Charlotte’s room ; they had forgotten to draw 
the curtains. They were all there still, — the flitting 
shadows on the ceiling told me that. He was forgiving 
her, — the faithless woman whose treachery had once 
caused him to wander so restlessly in grove and garden ; 
they were reconciled : this had been a day of reconcili- 
ations, while the “ thoughtless little moorland lark,” 
thrust forth from his heart, was flying abroad into the 
gloomy night. 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

What a return it was 1 I walked from the last village 
to the D ierkhof, through the silent, leafless forest. It 
was growing dark, and the dried leaves clung to the edge 
of my skirt, — they had rustled merrily in the morning 
air when I began my pilgrimage out into the world, 
and now they accompanied me upon my return with a 
monotonous whisper and rattle. When I emerged upon 
the boundless plain, when upon one side I saw the Hun’s 
grave looming up against the evening sky, and the light 
in the Dierkhof twinkled afar through the gloaming, while 
Spitz’s familiar bark sounded, deadened by distance, on 
my ear, I threw myself down upon the dry moorland 
stubble and wept bitterly. I was coming back to my 
moor wretched and broken-hearted. 

And now the four oaks stood before me, taller and 
talier as I approached them. I could even see a dark 


396 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


spot among the topmost boughs of one of them, — that 
was the dear old magpie’s nest ; the young birds, whose 
twittering had attended my departure, had long since 
flown away, leaving only the two old ones, who were 
keeping watch like Dierkhof sentinels from their heights, 
their wise eyes doubtless observing the solitary figure 
traversing the moor. Deep in the arch of the door- 
way something glimmered like a coal of fire, — I knew 
the kettle was boiling on the hearth ; and the dear roof, 
from which the smoke was ascending, a faint yellowish 
column into the clear sky, seemed to grow directly out 
of the ground, so shrunken and small had the Dierkhof 
become in my eyes. Then I saw Spitz run like lightning 
across the yard, — at the gate of the inclosure he stopped 
breathless for a moment, his ears pricked, and then he 
rushed towards me barking for joy, and, leaping up, tried 
to lick my face, — it was all I could do to keep my feet, so 
turbulent was his delight. 

“ What is the matter with the brute ? He seems 
crazy !” Use cried, coming to the door Oh, that voice ! 
I ran across the yard and threw myself upon her broad 
breast, — the torments that had pursued me like furies to 
the profound quiet of the moor, seemed to fall from me. 
She did not exclaim or even speak, but her arms clasped 
me close. I was caressed and petted as in my childhood, 
and I knew how she must have longed for me ; and when 
we entered the Fleet, where the lamp was already lit, I 
saw that she was very pale. 

But Ilse never allowed her emotion to get the better 
of her. She suddenly pushed me from her. “ Lenore, 
you have been burned out,” she said, in the same tone in 
which she used to reprove me for some childish fault. 

In spite of my heartbreak I could not but smile. I 
sat down on Heinz’s wooden bench, and told her all 
about the fire and my father’s illness, while she clasped 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 391 


her hands in dismay repeatedly. But it did not prevent 
her from building the fire afresh beneath the kettle on the 
hearth, and feeding me, greatly against my will, with a 
huge slice of bread and butter, mouthful by mouthful. 

“Yes, yes, that was best,” she said, when I informed 
her, in conclusion, that the physicians had sent me to the 
Dierkhof. Then she vanished in the interior of the house, 
shortly reappearing to conduct me to a towering bed that 
she had prepared for me. 

“ There, child, now go directly to bed, and I will bring 
you some elder-tea. I knew as soon as I saw you that 
you had taken cold upon the journey ; you are very fever- 
ish ; you must not talk any more to-night; to-morrow 
you shall tell me all the rest.” 

At my earnest entreaty I was spared the elder-tea, but 
I was put to bed immediately. The smoky picture of 
Charles the Great looked down unchanged upon me. I 
sprang up, took it from its nail, and turned its face to the 
wall. How I hated that face ! How much frivolity, false- 
hood, and deceit lurked behind the white brow that had so 
dazzled me at the Hun’s gravel It had been the light to 
lure me into the unknown world, — unconsciously I had 
yielded to its attraction ; for its sake I had been recon- 
ciled to leaving my old home. I now clearly understood 
all my former sensations, and despised them ; they had 
blinded me, and led me through paths of folly and error. 

I sat down upon the foot of my bed as I had done 
upon the night of my grandmother’s death, and looked 
out into the immeasurable distance. No, — there was no 
rest for me even at the Dierkhof : the deeper and more 
perfect was the stillness around me, the louder was the 
cry of my lonely heart. Now I understood how my 
grandmother could stand at the corner of the inclosure, 
gazing abroad into the far horizon for hours at a time ; 

34 


3^8 


THE LITTLE k OORLAND PRINCESS. 


her veiled eyes had yearned to see in the misty distance 
one, lost, dishonoured, whom her bleeding, maternal 
heart could not forget. And for me now the boundless 
expanse of the heavens, sprinkled with its millions of 
starry lights arched above one spot alone, — the old mer- 
chant house 

The wind arose outside, and stirred the bare twigs of 
the southernwood-tree, so that they tapped lightly against 
the window. I leaned back, and covered my eyes with 
my hand. Beneath the window stood the box whence I 
had first taken Aunt Christine’s letter. Now I had really 
seen her upon her knees, that enchanting form, fairer than 
the loveliest fairies that, in my old story-books, had ever 
issued from their flower-cup homes ; and from the folds 
of white satin she had stretched forth two white arms to 
lure to her embrace once more the man whom she had 
injured. Involuntarily I struck my clinched hands upon 
my breast. I had been weak and cowardly at that most 
critical moment ; I should not have left the room, but 
have hastened to him and lain my head where it had 
been a few hours before, upon his breast; he had placed 
it there himself, and I knew how tenderly his heart had 
throbbed for me, how caressing had been his light touch 
upon my hair, as I sobbed out my confession. I should 
not have allowed those white hands to touch him, and 
then the charm of the evil spell might have been broken. 

At this hour all was brilliant in the other house, — as 
light as upon the evening of the Princess’s visit. And 
be was sitting at the piano, the time all forgotten, when, 
because of her faithlessness, he never touched the keys. 
She was singing the intoxicating, the demonic Taran- 
tella. And in a few weeks a new mistress would walk 
in the echoing corridors of the Claudius house, not with 
a veil above her brow, but in a rustling silken train, 
flowers strewn in her hair, and a trill upon her lips ; and 


THE LITTLE MOORLAJS D PRINCESS . 


399 


there would be life in the old rooms again, — guests com- 
ing and going, and no one would blame Herr Claudius 
for his choice, — his wife was still “enchantingly lovely.” 
Then he would be my uncle. I sprang up and hurriedly 
p..ced the room. Mine was no angelic nature ; I could 
*iot smile with scalding tears in my eyes. I struggled 
against the knife that was repeatedly and pitilessly 

plunged into my breast 1 I would not go back to K ; 

I would implore my father to select some other home ; I 
never could bring my lips to call Herr Claudius “uncle;” 
never, never I 

The gentle tapping upon the pane from without 
changed to a violent beating and lashing, — a spring 
tempest was abroad upon the moor. I heard it once 
more, — the creaking and cracking of the old framework, 
the whistling and roaring in the corners, and the ghostly 
rattle of the dead leaves that were still clinging to the 
oak boughs. The old Dierkhof trembled in the mighty 
blast, the decaying shutters of the garret windows groaned, 
and the window-panes jingled gently, as if the storm were 
lightly passing delicate silver chains through his tempest 
fingers. 

Ilse entered with a lamp to look after me. 

“I thought you would not be able to sleep,” she said, 
when she found me sitting upon the foot of my bed. 
“ Child, you have forgotten the old moorland song; it is 
true the wind is tame there among the mountains, but I 
do not like it half so well. Go to your warm bed again ; 
it will not harm you.” 

Indeed it would not harm me. The cosy Dierkhof 
would protect me from its fury. 

1 had been three days upon the moor, and the tempest 
had been whistling and roaring on, day and night, over 
the spacious plain. Molly, Spitz, and the fowls all kept 
\uddled together in the barn, looking out at the raging 


400 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


monster through the open door. But it was not a cold 
wind, and now and then I could almost fancy that it 
brought upon its wings a faint fragrance of flowers. 
Heinz, too, did not leave the Dierkhof, for Use would not 
have him sleep alone in his hut in “such a hurly-burly.” 
But how changed it all was ! I no longer read aloud 
when we were sitting together in the evenings in the Fleet ; 
the fairy-tales had lost their charm, and I could not tell 
about my life in town. Whenever Ilse spoke the name 
of Claudius, I felt a terrible lump in my throat, and I 
knew that if I once uttered the name myself, all my 
hardly preserved self-control would vanish, and I should 
shriek aloud my agony, to the horror of the two faithful 
souls beside me. As it was, Heinz regarded me shyly ; 
he did not quite understand me or my modes of expres- 
sion ; and Ilse told me, laughing, that he declared that I 
had grown to be a real Princess, and he could not under- 
stand why Ilse did not hang up the curtains and bring 
out the handsome sofa, just as she had done for Fraulein 
Streit. 

Towards the evening of the third day the storm abated ; 
there was still a strong wind upon the moor, but I could 
not endure to stay in the house any longer. I ran out of 
the inclosure into the rushing breeze, and let it bear me 
onward to the mound. Yes, there it stood, still firm, 
the dear old fir, and as I clasped my arms around its 
trunk, it rained a shower of needles down upon me. The 
broom was tangled about my feet, but the place where 
the Hun’s grave had been broken into, the year before, 
still lay bald and bare ; and there were little heaps of sand 
blown about the spot where the human ashes had been 
sprinkled. Above the strip of woodland the flaming 
spikes of the evening glow shot upward to the zenith, 
•~it would storm again on the morrow : it was as if the 
tempest meant to interpose a barrier between me and 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


4U1 


the outside world. And there wound the stream along 
which the three gentlemen had hurried to leave the barren 
moor, there the tall, well-built form of the “ old gentle- 
man” had strode through the stubble, while the spoiled 
and handsome Tancred had picked his way along the 
velvet turf n«ar the water. 

Now all was so lonely around me, — but no: I shaded 
my eyes with my hand to be sure that I really saw such a 
wonder as a moving object upon the narrow, sandy path 
that Heinz dignified with the name of “ road.” Heavens ! 
Ilse had fulfilled her threat and had sent for the doctor ! 
My pale face and evident depression distressed her. 
The dark object tottered on, — the crimson evening light 
illumined it : it was certainly the very same old vehicle 
that had brought the physician to my grandmother’s 
death-bed. It made a turn ; the huge-limbed horse and 
the old carriage stood out like a silhouette against the 
glowing sky. I saw the glitter of the glass in the win- 
dows, and the sturdy peasant upon the box. Suddenly 
the carriage stood still, and a gentleman alighted. Al- 
though the tall figure was muffled close from head to 
heel, I should have recognized it at once among a 
thousand others. My pulses stood still. I clinched my 
teeth and gazed fixedly at the carriage - door, — she 
would issue from it, — the beautiful woman in the velvet 
cloak, with white ermine around her shoulders. My 
uncle and aunt had come to take back the runaway. But 
the door was closed, and the carriage turned to the strip 
of woodland again. Herr Claudius strode across the 
moor directly towards the mound, his cloak wrapped 
closely about him. I loosed my hold of the fir, extended 
my arms, and was about to rush down to him ; but — an 
uncle should not be received so warmly. I embraced the 
rough trunk again, and pressed my forehead against it 
2 A 34* 


402 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


Nearer and nearer he came ; I never stirred, — I seemed 
to be bound to the stake, — suffering extremest tortures. 

At the foot of the hillock he paused. 

“Will you not come a single step to meet me, Lenore?” 
he asked. 

“Uncle!” came sobbingly from my lips. 

With a few strides he stood beside me, a smile quiv 
ering about his mouth. 

“You strange child! what wild idea has taken pos- 
session of you ? Do you really imagine that any uncle 
would seek a little runaway niece with such passionate 
longing ?” 

He gently took both my hands and drew me down from 
the hill. “ There, let the wind sweep by us, — I am not 
your uncle, but I have asked your father, and he has 
granted me a dearer right to you, — the right to carry you 
home with me, but not to the Karolinenlust, Lenore. If 
you consent to go with me, there must be but one home 
for both of us. Lenore, your own desire is all that stands 
between us. Have you still no other name for me ?” 

“Erich!” I sighed, blissfully, and clasped my arms 
around his neck. 

“Naughty child !” he said, holding me in a firm em- 
brace. “ What misery you have caused me ! I never 
shall forget the moment when Fraulein Fliedner returned 
from the Karolinenlust, and told me you had gone, gone 
by the night train, — my timid little moorland bird abroad 
in the night and storm ! How I mourned that you should 
not have known what pain you were causing me ! Lenore, 
how was it possible for you to think that I could clasp 
the darling whom I loved so sacredly to my heart only to 
thrust her from me for the sake of that hateful, painted 
sin ?” 

I freed myself from his embrace. 

“ Look at me !” I cried, standing erect before him, 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


403 


half laughing, half crying, — “ beside Aunt Christine I am 
the most puny ‘nothing,’ as Charlotte always calls me ! 
I saw my aunt at your feet, begging for forgiveness, — 
oh, in such melting tones ! And I knew that you had 
loved that beautiful woman dearly, so dearly ” 

His face flushed crimson. I had never seen him blush 
so deeply. 

“ I know that Fraulein Fliedner’s tongue did mischief,” 
he said. “ She accuses herself of having been the cause 
of your flight in that she, oddly enough, expressed a fear 
lest I should fall beneath the spell. My little one, I do 
not mean to say one word to you of that time that was 
followed by years of remorse. Keep those innocent, 
childlike eyes, — they are my pride, my life. I went wildly 
astray* then : it was my own fault. I mistook the fire of 
passion for that pure, starry gleam that your coming, 
my darling, first shed upon my life. The error of my 
youth bore bitter fruit. I have suffered for it until now, 
but now it is atoned. I demand my right !” 

He kissed me, — then wrapped his cloak about me. 
“You will find much changed when we reach home, my 
child,” he said, in a low voice, after a pause. “ The 
ground floor of the Swiss cottage is empty, the bird of 
passage has flown southward again ” 

“ But she was poor, — what will she do ?” I asked, 
anxiously. 

“ She is provided for. She is your aunt, Lenore ” 

“And Charlotte?” 

“ She has had a terrible lesson ; but I was not mis- 
taken in her : the girl has noble traits. At first she was 
physically and mentally crushed, but she has made great 
efforts, and the true pride and dignity of her nature are 
beginning to show themselves. She takes shame to her- 
self for her career at school ; in spite of her rare talents, 
she learned but little, because she imagined herself born 


404 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


to a station in life in which she would not need to labour. 
She is going to enter another establishment to be trained 
for a governess. I did not oppose her desire to do so ; 
for intellectual activity is her best means of cure, — of course 
the Claudius house will always be her home. Dagobert 
wishes to leave the army and go to America. The hopes 
entertained by the brother and sister, and their conse- 
quent disappointment, have got abroad in the town, — who 
was the first to tell of them, no one knows, — and Hago- 
bert’s position would not be a very enviable one ; there- 
fore he wishes to go. A few hours before I left to come 

hither, I paid a visit to the Princess ” 

I hid my face on his breast. “ Now comes my sen- 
tence 1” I whispered. 

“Yes, yes, now I know everything!” he declared, with 
feigned severity. “ The little moorland Princess thrust 
her little impertinent nose into the mystery of the Karo- 
linenlust on the first day of her arrival there, and then 
bravely helped on the intrigue against the unfortunate 

man in the other house ” 

“ And he does not forgive me ” 

He smiled down at me. “ If not, how could he have 
kissed those red lips that kept such heroic silence ?” 

We left the shelter of the mound, — the wind attacked 
us. “ Oh, wert thou in the cauld blast” I sang out clearly 
amid its roar. It had all come true : I walked beside him 
clasped by his strong arm, while his left held together 
the cloak that he had thrown around me. The wind swept 
past me with spring in its breath, and seemed to cry, 
“ Fast bound, fast bound 1” And I laughed aloud and 
nestled closer to my guide. Let the wind and the bees 
and the butterflies rove over the moor at will, I would 
rove with them no longer ! 

Ilse was sitting in the Fleet paring potatoes, and Heinz 
was coming with lighted pipe from the courtyard, when 


TIIE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


405 


we entered the door. I had never seen ray faithful nurse 
in such consternation as when Herr Claudius unfolded 
his cloak and I laughed out at her. The knife fell from 
her hands into her lap. “ Herr Claudius !” she cried, 
transfixed. At that name Heinz instantly took the pipe 
from his mouth and held it behind him. 

“ Good-evening, Frau Ilse !” said Herr Claudius. 
“ You have harboured a little deserter here, and I am 
come to carry her home, — she is mine !” 

A light broke in upon “ Frau Ilse.” She sprang up, — 
knife, potatoes, all fell upon the stones at her feet. “ Gra- 
cious goodness 1 was that what ailed her ?” She clasped 
her hands. “ Elder-tea was not at all what she needed. 
You have befooled me finely, Lenore, — gracious good- 
ness ! And do you want to marry that child, Herr 
Claudius ?” She turned hotly upon him, while tears 
of emotion were rolling down her cheeks. “ Look at her 
little hands and her childlike face, and her young, young 
eyes 

Herr Claudius blushed like a girl. “ But she loves 
me, — my little Lenore,” — he said, gently, with some hesi- 
tation ; “ she says she loves me, ‘ old as the hills’ though 
I be.” 

I nestled close at his side. 

“ That’s not what I mean, Herr Claudius, — God 
forbid !” Ilse protested, apologetically. “ I should like 
to see the girl in her place who would not say ‘yes’ and 
‘amen’ on the spotl But — but — all your people who 
obey your orders, how can they respect such a little 
wife whom you can carry about the house on your 
arm ?” 

He laughed. “ They will respect her soon enough 
when they see their master obey ‘ the little wife.’ And 
now, Frau Ilse, bestir yourself; we leave here to-morrow 
morning, and you must go with us.” 


406 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


Use passed her apron hastily over her eyes. "But 
what is to become of the Dierkhof in the mean time, Herr 
Claudius ? If you only knew how I found it when I 
came back before 1” she said, with a decidedly sharp in- 
tonation. 

Heinz scratched his ear, and looked in some confusion 
at his severe sister. But I ran up to him and put my 
arm in his. " Heinz, you wicked Heinz, aren’t you going 
to wish me well ?” 

" Oh, yes, little Princess, but I’m sorry, too ; out there 
there is — no moor any more 1” 


I began the foregoing two years after my marriage. 
A cradle stood beside my writing-table, and a tiny 
creature lay within it, my lovely, fair first-born. I began 
to write this for him. But since then a splendid fellow, 
with brown curls and a lusty pair of lungs, has lain on 
these rose-curtained pillows ; and now the place is occu- 
pied by my little Lenore, the only daughter of the Clau 
dius house. I have been married seven years. I am 
sitting in Charlotte’s former room. The dark curtains 
have vanished ; it is bright and sunny here ; bunches of 
roses, painted, woven, and embroidered, cover the carpet, 
walls, and furniture ; the windowed recesses are actual 
banks of flowers. Lenore is asleep, her cheek resting on 
her chubby hand ; it is so quiet that I can hear the flies 
buzzing outside the window ; and now for the conclusion ! 

Suddenly the door is thrown open ; they come rushing 
in, the two hopes of the Claudius race. 

" But, mamma, you write too much,” cries the fair 
haired boy, reproachfully. "We are to have tea in the 
garden. Aunt Fliedner is in the arbour now, and we 
went, for grandpapa.” 


THE LITTLE MOORLAND PRINCESS. 


407 


I look in his face with a delight that is not unmingled 
with fear, — he grows tall and strong — but, oh, dear, what 
will become of my authority when he grows taller than 
his little mother ? My dark-haired darling stands on 
tiptoe, and lays a piece of rope as thick as my finger, and 
a slender willow twig, directly across my manuscript, and 
begs, in his lovely, childish voice, “ Please make me a 
whip, mamma 1” 

“ Go down and wait for me in the garden,” I say, while 
my fingers are busy in an attempt to produce a whip from 
such unpromising materials. “ I want to write a little 
about Aunt Charlotte.” 

“ And little Paul, too ?” I assent, and they both run 
down-stairs again. 

The day after my return from the moor, Charoltte left 
the Claudius house to enter a normal school, and shortly 
afterwards young Helldorf went to England. He had 
asked Charlotte to be his wife, and had been rejected 
She confessed, in a letter to me, that as she had once 
treated him so arrogantly, she could not in her humilia- 
tion yield to her love for him. We did not allow her, when 
her studies were completed, to go among strangers, — at 
our entreaty she returned to the Claudius house, where 
she was a fondly-loved aunt to our children. Helldorf’s 
name never passed her lips, although she was on terms 
of great intimacy, as are we all, with his brother’s family. 
Then came the war of ’66. Max Helldorf was severely 
wounded at Koniggratz. An hour after his brother, in great 
agitation, had brought us the news of his misfortune, 
Charlotte entered my room in a travelling-dress. “I am 
going as a Sister of Charity, Lenore. Explain it all to my 
uncle. I cannot do otherwise.” 

Claudius was away from home. I dismissed her with a 
blessing. Four weeks afterward I received a long, happy 
letter from her, signed “ Charlotte Holidorf The chap- 


408 TEE little moorland princess. 

lain of the regiment had united the convalescent and his 
faithful nurse. They are now living in Dorotheenthal. 
Helldorf has a high position in the firm of Claudius & Co., 
and since little Paul opened his large eyes upon the world, 
Charlotte cannot understand how there should be such 
wretched divisions of rank in a world where all are born 
equal. 

And now I hear the study-door close, and a firm step 
upon the stair. I write on and pretend that I do not 
hear him coming, the husband who spoils me beyond all 
telling. What can I do but laugh when he puts his arm 
around me and says, looking over my head apologetically 
at my father, “ She is the oldest and most thoughtless of 
my children?” My father assents with his absent smile, 
— he is still very absent-minded, my dear father, but we 
cherish him fondly, and his last work has been received 
with enthusiasm by the scientific world. Perhaps his 
grandchildren have had something to do with it, — they 
are admitted at all times to the restored library, and climb 
into his lap while he is writing. His relations with the 
court are pleasanter than ever, and the Princess often 
comes to the Claudius house ; but a curtain hangs before 
Lothar’s portrait, and the door behind the wardrobe in 
the Karolinenlust has been walled up. 

The step upon the stair has softly entered, — its owner 
is bending over the cradle, looking at his little sleeping 
daughter. 

“ This child is wonderfully like you, Lenore.” 

I spring up proudly, for he says it with a delighted 
look. Away with pen and paper ! — they are powerless to 
paint the sunshine of happiness that rests upon the life 
of the “Little Moorland Princess.” 


THE END. 


By Florence Belknap Gilmour. 


TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF 

LfiON DE TINSEAU. 
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In Quest of the Ideal. 

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Countess Erika’s Apprenticeship By Ossip Schubin. 

“O Thou, My Austria !” By Ossip Schubin. 

Erlach Court By Ossip Schubin. 

The Alpine Fay By E. Werner* 

The Owl’s Nest By E. Marlitt. 

Picked Up in the Streets By H. Schobert. 

Saint Michael By E. Werner. 

Violetta By Ursula Zoge von Manteufel. 

The Uady with the Rubies By E. Marlitt. 

Vain Forebodings By E Oswald. 

A Penniless Girl By W. Heimburg-. 

Quicksands By Adolph Streckfuss. 

Banned and Blessed ByE. Werner. 

A Noble Name By Claire von Glumer. 

From Hand to Hand By Golo Raimund. 

Severa By E- Hartner. 

A New Race By Golo Raimund. 

The Eichhofs By Moritz von Reichenbach. 

Castle Hohenwald By Adolph Streckfuss. 

Margarethe By E. Juncker. 

Too Rich By Adolph Streckfuss. 

A Family Feud By Uudwig Harder. 

The Green Gate . By Ernst Wichert. 

Only a Girl By Wilhelmine von Hillern. 

Why Did He Not Die ? By Ad. von Volckhauser. 

Hulda By Fanny Uewald. 

The Bailiff’s Maid By E. Marlitt. 

In the Schillingscourt By E. Marlitt. 

Countess Gisela By E. Marlitt. 

At the Councillor’s By E. Marlitt. 

The Second Wife By E. Marlitt. 

The Old Mam’selle’s Secret By E. Marlitt. 

Gold Elsie . \ x By E. Marlitt. 

The Tittle Moorland Princess J By E. Marlitt. 


“ Mrs. A. L. Wister, through her many translations of novels from the Ger- 
man, has established a reputation of the highest order for literary judgment, and for 
a long time her name upon the title-page of such a translation has been a sufficient 
guarantee to the lovers of fiction of a pure and elevating character, that the novel 
would be a cherished home favorite. This faith in Mrs. Wister is fully justified by 
the fact that among her more than thirty translations that have been published by 
Lippincott’s there has not been a single disappointment. And to the exquisite 
judgment of selection is to be added the rare excellence of her translations, which 
has commanded the admiration of literary and linguistic scholars ." — Boston Hovit 
Journal. 


j. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA 


/ 


ISSUED IN 

Lippincott’s 

Series of Select Novels. 

i2mo. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1. 00. 

“ * Lippincott's Select Novels’ is a series that is most properly named. The 
reader may select at random from the long list of titles with the certainty of getting 
a good novel.” — H. Y. Bookseller . 


Lady Val’s Elopement. 

By JOHN BICKERDYKE. 

" The story i3 full of the brightest interest throughout, and several charming 
romances are interwoven with the main tale. The author shows remarkable skill 
in the formation of his plot, and several delightful characters are introduced. The 
bright spirit of the story does not lag for a moment .” — Boston Home Journal. 


The Failure of Sibyl Fletcher. 

By ADELINE SERGEANT. 

" This new novel by Adeline Sergeant, whose previous works have attracted 
more than usual attention, is a story of English life, and is a fascinating study of 
character. The plot is original, is ingeniously developed, the dialogue bright and 
sparkling, and the situations artistically arranged. On the whole it is one of the 
best of the select novel series .” — Boston Advertiser. 


Heavy Odds. 

By MARCUS CLARKE. 

“ The story is good, running along with thrilling enough interest to keep the 
reader's attention faithfully unto the end. It is just the book to take with one on a 
journey or to spend an evening with. We recommend it heartily to the lover of 
an entertaining story .” — Cleveland Critic. 


J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA. 


BY “THE DUCHESS.” 


The Three Graces. 

With 6 full-page illustrations. i2mo. Cloth, $1.25. 

u The scene and the pictures are English or Irish, and there is a great deal of 
fresh, sparkling, amusing young life and talk in the book. It is certainly sweet 
and wholesome and full of fun .” — The Congregationalist. 


BY ANNE H. WHARTON. 

A Last Century Maid. 

A Juvenile. 

Quarto. Illustrated. Cloth, ornamental, $1.50. 

41 The volume is a small quarto, beautifully printed, and bound in ornamental 
cloth, and it is embellished with several full-page illustrations. The first three 
stories deal with colonial days in the vicinity of Philadelphia, and a more charming 
picture than that drawn of the little colonial Quaker maid we have never seen 
drawn by the pen. The second story is that of a little girl who was stolen by the 
Indians and brought up by them with great affection; the third is a delightful 
story of ‘ Christmas in Seventeen Seventy-Six,’ and the others are all very charm- 
ing. It is a book that children will read, fall in love with, and read again repeatedly. 
One of the most touchingly beautiful stories that we ever read is 4 A Dog and a 
Sunbeam in Prison/ and its lesson of love will sink into every heart .” — Boston 
Home Journal. 


BY LAURA T. MEAD. 

Catalina, Art Student. 

With 8 full-page illustrations. i2mo. Cloth, $1 25. 

44 An attractive story has been made of the details of the art student’s life in Lon- 
don. Catalina is an artistic girl of Spanish descent, beautiful and winning. The 
tale of her struggles and devotion to art is pleasantly told .” — San Francisco Bulletin. 


J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA 


By Rosa Nouchette Carey. 


“ Miss Rosa Nouchette Carey has achieved an enviable reputation as a writer 
of tales of a restful and quiet kind. They tell pleasant stories of agreeable people, 
are never sensational, and have a genuine moral purpose and helpful tone without 
being aggressively didactic or distinctly religious in character .” — New York 
Christian Union. 

Sir Godfrey’s Granddaughters. 

But Men Must Work. Mary St. John. 

Mrs. Romney. Heriot’s Choice. 

The Old, Old Story. 

i2mo. Paper, 50 cents ; cloth, $l.< 00. 

The Search for Basil Lyndhurst. 

Wooed and Married. *-» Barbara Heathcote’s Trial. 
Not Like Other Girls. Robert Ord’s Atonement. 

Wee Wifie. Uncle Max. 

Nellie’s Memories. Queenie’s Whim. 

For Lilias. Only the Governess. 

Bound only in cloth, $1. 00. 

The Mistress of Brae Farm. 

l2mo. Cloth, $1.25. 


“ The curiosity of those who ask what it is that makes Rosa Nouchette Carey 
so popular can easily be gratified. Her stories, while interesting in themselves, 
have a moral charm that emanates from the principal characters. She has written 
a number of novels, and in all of them the same purity of intention is manifest. It 
teaches without preaching, it lifts the reader into a fine atmosphere without lectur- 
ing .” — New York Morning Journal. 


J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA. 


By Julien Gordon 


41 Now and then , to prove to men— perhaps also to prove to 
themselves — what they can do if they dare and will , one of 
these gifted women detaches herself from her sisters, enters the 
arena with men, to fight for the highest prizes, and as the 
brave Gotz says of Brother Martin, 4 shames many a knight .* 
To this race of conquerers belongs to-day one of the first living 
writers of novels arid romances, fulien Gordon .” 

FRIEDERICH SPIELHAGEN. 


A WEDDING, and Other Stories. 
POPP^EA. 

A DIPLOMAT’S DIARY. 

A SUCCESSFUL MAN. 
VAMPIRES, AND MADEMOISELLE RESEDA. 

Two stories in one book. 

i 2 mo. Cloth, $1.00 per volume. 


“ The cleverness and lightness which characterized * A Diplomat’s Diary’ are 
not wanting in the later work of the American lady who writes under the pseudo- 
nyme of Julien Gordon. In her former story the dialogue is pointed and alert, the 
characters are clear-cut and distinct, and the descriptions picturesque. As for the 
main idea of * A Successful Man,’ the intersection of two wholly different strata of 
American life, — one fast and fashionable, the other domestic and decorous, — it is 
worked out with much skill and alertness of treatment to its inevitably tragic 
issue .’’ — New York World. 


J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA. 


BY JULIA HELEN TWELLS, JR. 

A Triumph of Destiny. 

i2mo. Cloth, decide edges, $1.25. 

“ It is a book of uncommon characters and end-of-century problems ; a story 
of strength told with interest and conviction. . . . The book is well worth reading.” 
— Philadelphia Press. 

“ Miss T wells is evidently a woman of extensive mental resources, who thinks 
deeply and clearly. Her story commands admiration and consequent attention 
from the first. There are not many characters, but about the few are clustered 
events of significance, and their relation to each other and to their own individual 
development is analyzed with strength and clearness .” — Washington Times. 


BY MRS. OLIPHANT. 

The Unjust Steward. 

i2mo. Cloth, $1.25. 

“ We have an admirable study of an old Scotch minister oppressed by the con- 
sciousness of a very venial fault in a small' financial transaction. The tone is one 
of cheerful humor, the incidents are skilfully devised, verisimilitude is never sacri- 
ficed to effect, every episode is true to life .” — Philadelphia Press. 


BY ARTHUR PATERSON. 

For Freedom’s Sake. 

i2mo. Cloth, $1.25. 

** The subject-matter of this book is the desperate battle between freedom and 
slavery for possession of Kansas. One of the strongest characters introduced is 
old John Brown. A charming love story is naturally incidental, and the element 
of humor is by no means lacking .” — New York World. 


J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA. 











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